A Guardian's Homecoming
by WV-Rebirth
Summary: After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **September 6, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Wow, this was one pitiful and sucky summer. We had to move, our computer was damaged during said move, and I had to get a job just to get a new one and helped catch the bills up. My dad has a new job now though and since there is now school once again, I no longer will be working. The only really good thing about going to work at the end was I met my new boyfriend and he's awesome!

Anyways, I am, or was, W. Vandom. Sometime while I was offline someone hacked my email and my accounts for several things I signed up for through my email and changed my passwords. Soooo, here I am with a new account and while I was saving for my new computer I wrote a lot in my notebooks (paper and pencil people) and I have most of this story finished and just need typed up. Currently I now have almost six chapters typed up and my boyfriend is looking them over and I will post them as he finished and gives them back.

It is taking time because I have a lot on my plate right now to type eveything up since as I do I come across stuff I don't like exactly how it is and I end up changing it, hopefully for the better. I'm trying to decide what stories to concentrate on first, this one being the first since it was my first original fanfiction. My boyfriend wants me to write two different stories about Naruto and I may work on those between the other stuff so I can do something nice for him. I also want to work on some of the great ideas and stuff that XV-Dragon gave me and some of the stuff that the original Wilhelmina Vandom told me I could use awhile ago. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the rewrite of Guardian's homecoming, see you.

One last note, I have to keep up very, VERY good grades in school this year or no boyfriend. So on this note, depending how much I have to do, some updates may be slow while others fast when I finish posting everything I already have typed up. So please be patient.

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><p>The night was growing later than Will would have liked as she stood at the large bay window in her boyfriend's apartment, hugging herself tightly as another bright flash of light lit up the darkened sky followed by the large crack of thunder. She could see the shadowy forms of the trees blowing wildly in the near forty mile an hour winds that was threatening to snap the smaller trees in half. The torrent of rain was so thick it almost seemed as if full sheets of water was pelting the landscape, though it almost seemed as if it was going sideways. This storm was one of the fiercest the young girl had ever seen before in her life and she couldn't help being slightly afraid despite all the power she had. In fact, a part of her was wondering if this was a prelude of something to come as in some ways it almost didn't seem natural with how strong it was, but she knew she was just being paranoid as there were storms worse than this all the time all over the world.<p>

It was getting to be an hour past her curfew which meant Susan was going to pissed and the way her mom had been acting lately, Will doubted she would be given much of a chance to explain about everything. She wanted to call home, but the power had went out soon after the storm began which meant the phone was now useless despite her power as it would look weird to be getting a call from a digital phone that required electric to power not only the modem, but the cordless phone as well. Her own mobile phone was missing as well, she wasn't sure when she could have lost it and Matt swore he hadn't seen the small device and he had left his at his friends after their band rehearsal.

Despite all of this though, none of it was the main source of the girl's current uneasiness. Lately her relationship with Matt had been straining due to his changing attitude that she wanted to blame on his alter-ego which she knew couldn't be it since it was no longer powered by Nerissa, but the heart of earth instead. It was still easier to want to blame something other than what she knew was the cause, as she hated to know that the simplest explanation was the real cause. It was plain and simple, she knew deep down that the boy's hormones were just going into overdrive and that in turn was turning him into an asshole. He was growing more and more ill tempered as he pressured Will into having sex, something she wasn't ready for and the more he pressed the more she wondered if he cared for her or her body.

It was a source of pain for the redhead during a time she really didn't really need anymore as her home life was going to hell in a hand basket and the flames were burning the straw that made it. At first, despite the tension between the Marriage between Susan and Dean, a peace had started to descend upon the household as Will finally accepted it wanting her mother to be happy despite not liking the man all that much. It was a few months later when the uneasiness returned with a vengeance when Susan started jumping Will for every little slight, imagined or real. The rift between mother and daughter that was healing was split wide open larger than before making Will begin to wonder if she truly did do something. She went to bed many night the last few weeks crying, wondering why her mother seemed to hate her so much and if it would be better if Will just left. Maybe find a home on Meridian, possibly even become a guard or something for Elyon.

She really didn't want that either though as she was worried about the other girls lately, especially Cornelia. Something was going on with their powers and they couldn't get an explanation as they seemed to be locked out of Candracar for some reason. At first their powers just seemed to weaken, but then they started to disappear and reappear at random times making them more and more unreliable. Cornelia was quick to blame Will for it, claming that the redhead must have pissed off the Oracle or something. While the other girls didn't outright say it, Will could see in their eyes that they questioned Will's part in it. It had led to many arguments between them lately. The jewel hanging around her neck was one of the most powerful sources for good in the universe and yet it still seemed to malfunction like stupid phone did on more than one occasion. She idly wondered if the thing was still under warranty.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Will wondered if maybe she could find relief from some of the stress if she just gave in with Matt. It could possibly lift the tension between them some and maybe even repair some of the damage their relationship took. She even wondered if the relief in tension could maybe return the boy she lived instead of the one that currently held her boyfriend's place. Perhaps he would become caring and loving like he once was if they became intimate and his fits of anger would finally stop once and for all. She couldn't help wondering why she hadn't just given her body to him yet, he already had her heart and mind so the only logical conclusion would be to give him her everything. So why couldn't she? She was in love with him, wasn't she? Of course she didn't want to risk a getting pregnant, she was too young, but there were ways of preventing it wasn't there?

Closing her eyes Will leaned closer to the glass, resting her forehead on the cool smooth surface. She loved Matt, she couldn't deny it, but no matter how much she loved him it didn't excuse the way he treated her lately. She wasn't ready for it, plain and simple, and she refused to do something she wasn't ready for nor would she reward Matt for his hurtful and hateful attitude lately. She loved him, she would have left him already if she didn't, but sleeping with him wouldn't prove it and if he didn't love her enough to give her time then perhaps he was the one who didn't love her.

"Why do you keep watching out that window?" Matt's deep yet cold voice asked from right beside her ear, his warm breath blowing gently along the side of her neck right before his arms wrapped around her and drew her back into his embrace, her back against his muscular chest. She could see their reflection in the window as he locked eyes with her own through their reflection, the look on his face troubling the redhead a little. She was alone in the house with him, his parents and little sister along with his grandfather gone for the weekend. She was beginning to think stopping off at his house was a bad idea but the storm was just starting and she wouldn't had made it anywhere else before the full fury hit.

"I-I need to get home or my mom is going to kill me." Will sighed snuggling back in the boy's arms soaking up the warmth while wishing the love that was once there still remained. He had slowly changed at first, but the last week or two it seemed to get worse much quicker and quicker as the days passed. Her breath caught in her throat as he held her tight with one hand while the other slid upwards to cup one of her breasts, squeezing and kneading it making her squirm fighting back a small moan as her body reacted to Matt's touch. She tried pulling his hand away, tried to squirm free, but his hold has strong as the boy was much stronger physically than she was and she wouldn't resort to the heart as she couldn't bring herself to hurt him since she knew he would stop trying to get any farther as the fight would soon start.

"The rain isn't going to let up anytime soon, Will." Matt said as he acted as if Will wasn't trying to get out of his grasp, his groping becoming more forceful to the point of starting to hurt a little. He leaned over kissing the side of her neck, biting a little as she squirmed even more. "Come on baby, there is so much more we can be doing right now. Stop paying attention to the damned water and pay attention to me."

"Please Matt, let me go." Will pleaded, her voice cracking a bit as she was on the verge of crying. He was starting to scare her even more as she tried desperately to pull away and bat his groping hand away as it started to yank her shirt up. She cried out in shock as she was pushed forward roughly, his hand in her hair as he drove her head into the window smashing it against the thick glass cracking, causing spider webs to form from the point of impact though not completely shattering the window. It still made her vision swim, the dim light of the candles looking like floating wisps for a moment as Matt growled hatefully.

"Damn you, Will, I give you so much and ask for so little in return. Why the hell won't you give me the one thing I want? Is that so much to ask of you?" Matt demanded hatefully, his voice growling causing her to look at the reflection of his face in the window next to were her head was held against the glass. The look in his eyes, the storm raging there, it scared her much more than the storm raging outside.

"Maybe I sh-should go." Will managed to whimper, her vision still a little blurry, her head swimming as she struggled to stay strong against what was happening. She still had the heart if she needed it, though she wished she had a more active power like Hay Lin's that she could have used to blow Matt away from her.

"No, Will, I don't think you should. I think you should stay, you need to be taught a little lesson. You need to know what you are and just who you belong to." Matt said, a vicious leer on his face as he grabbed another handful of hair and dragged her painfully over to the couch in the living room before throwing her down on it.

"Please Matt, stop this. Let me go, please." Will cried, trying to regain her bearings as she groped in the darkness for the heart of Candracar, the jewel hanging around her neck.

"No Will, I don't think I will. You are a little bitch, and you will be treated like one. I can show you great love Will, I really can, but you are forcing me to show you just how cruel I can be." Matt sneered, "No one loves you, your father abandoned you. Your mother has even grown sick of you and your pathetic ways. And your so called friends, only reason they hang around you is because of the heart. Without it, do you honestly think they would stick by you?"

"Y-Your wrong!" Will cried out in anger and hopelessness. He knew what he was saying was what she had been fearing lately, she had been the one who confided in him. And this was how he repaid her trust, by using it against her. She cried out as he backhanded her hard when she tried to stand only to be knocked painfully back down on the couch. "Please just let me go."

"Now bitch, I think it is time you learn who your master is. I can make this the most pleasurable experience in your life or I can make it the most painful." Matt laughed as he started yanking her shirt up and over her head, the heart getting caught up in the folds of clothing to be yanked off and tossed on the floor with the dark red material. Will crossed her arms across her simple white bra that was the only thing hiding her chest from the monster that her boyfriend was turning out to be. The heart maybe have been unreliable lately, having more than once letting her down, but it was her only hope to escape if she could get it and it would actually work.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Will demanded, trying to glare at the boy but the fear in her eyes and the falling tears ruined the effect though she was hoping the forcefulness of her attitude would make him back off. She could feel the large bruise that was forming on the side of her face, the pain she was already in threatening to overwhelm her and she was pleading with whoever was listening that Matt stop this before he caused anymore.

"I'm sick of your coy little attitude, you little bitch. I'm so sick of giving you EVERYTHING while I get NOTHING in return!" Matt snarled as he started yanking at Will's jeans despite her struggles to fight him off. He backhanded her again making her cry out in pain as she was knocked back into the couch leaving Matt to finally yank the girl's jeans off of her. Will felt so scared, so vulnerable with only her socks, bra and panties as she hugged herself crying. She couldn't believe this was happening, much less who was doing it. "I tried being nice, I really did, Will. I can't be nice anymore if you are going to learn, I'm going to have to take it. No more being nice, you little slut. No more will you deny me what belongs to ME!"

The frenzied look in Matt's eyes truly frightened more than anything else had ever scared her in her entire life. Not even when Cedric first captured her just after becoming a guardian had scared her as much as she was right now. She struggled weakly, she was in so much pain, but she couldn't give in. She had to get away, she had to get the heart so she could fold away from here.

She didn't have a chance to even try before Matt started beating her, punch after punch rained down on her prone body between tearing at what little she had left on. She was helpless to stop him, she closed her eyes sobbing as she tried to curl into a ball to protect herself only for the beating to grow worse. When it finally let up, Will was shaking in pain, her body wracked with sobs as she was praying it was finally over. She didn't fight back, she couldn't when she felt him moving her around as she squeezed her eyes shut tighter praying that this was a bad nightmare. The pain making her gasp and cry out sadly told her it wasn't. Matt had finally gotten around to taking what he wanted crushing almost all that was left of Will's spirit. Matt had managed to steal what little bit of innocence Will had left along with what trust she had.

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><p>Long after Matt finally finished with her and rolled off the redhead who finally passed out, Will slowly cracked her eyes open. She knew it was really late though couldn't really bring herself to care. She didn't know what to do or what to feel as new tears formed as she fought the pain and looked around her to see Matt passed out on the floor. As quietly and quickly as she could she slipped back into her jeans and shirt, her panties and bra a total loss as she groped in the dark for the heart. Finding it she felt a little bit of relief, though it was like a drop in a vast ocean.<p>

Thankfully after she limped to the front door and managed to get her shoes on, she found that the rain had finally let up. There was a mild drizzle, but it was nothing she couldn't deal with. Even if the storm was still raging on, Will would still have left like she was doing. She was in a lot of pain though making it difficult to move and the waves of dizziness that kept coming and going wasn't helping any. Only thing she could actually find the pain being useful for was it was keeping her mind on making it home and not on the emotional turmoil that was threatening to swallow her whole if she dwelled on it. The pain and anger was the only thing keeping her going for the time being.

It was a little difficult to breath though making her wonder if her ribs were broken, which she wouldn't doubt from the beating Matt gave her. The pain every movement brought to her made it even harder to force herself down the darkened street, the street lights still out showing that the power must have still been out as well. It made seeing where she was going pretty difficult since the storm clouds were still overhead blocking out any moonlight making it pitch black. With everything combined a simple fifteen minute enjoyable trip was turned into forty-five minutes of pain and hell, but Will finally arrived at the tall apartment building that was contained her home.

Upon reaching the elevators Will wanted to cry, a small whimper escaping as she realized they wouldn't work since there was no power going to them. Instead she dragged her feet down the hall to the stairwell and pushed the heavy metal door open to start climbing the steeps upwards praying that she would make it. Every step she managed to climb she was relieved to make as it became one step closer to home, to sanctuary. She would be safe and she knew despite their troubles Susan would hold her, her mother would make everything better. The older woman would take her in a warm, loving embrace and tell her that everything would be okay, that her mother would make sure of it.

After what seemed like an eternity, her body burning in pain, protesting each and every simple movement, Will finally reached her door. She started to reach into her pockets looking for a key only to find it missing making her curse under her breath. Reaching up to the door knob to test it, the redhead almost fell forward as the door was yanked open to have Susan standing there with a candle whose wick was almost burned out casting barely enough light to see the unbridled fury on Susan's face.

"It stopped raining over two hours ago, Will." Susan snapped as she backed up letting the redhead in, ignoring Will's startled half sob calling out to the older woman or either not hearing it. Either way didn't matter as mother continued to berate daughter driving out the last vestiges of hope in Will's slowly dieing soul. "Where the hell were you? It's four in the morning, you couldn't pick up your damn phone and call?"

"But mom..." Will gasped, struggling to not collapse in tears. Her last hope was quickly fleeing before her very eyes. All she wanted was to feel her mother's arms around her, comforting her. Why did this have to be happening? It wasn't fair.

"Shut it! I pay for your damn phone for situations like this, not for you to turn it off so you can go fuck around with that boy!" Susan growled, motioning for Will to shut up when the redhead tried to interrupt. "That's right, I called all your friends and they all said you went over to Matt's house and I know for a fact his parents are gone this weekend."

"Please..." Will whimpered, but Susan continued ranting at the broken girl, oblivious of the redhead's pain or just not seeing it in the dark. Either way, her life was shattered and Susan was proving that all of her fears were justified.

"Shut it Missy, your already grounded indefinitely, don't make it until your in a nursing home!" Snapped Susan as the light on the candle started dying out. "I hope you had fun tonight Will, because it will be the last time for a long time. Now get your ass to bed young lady, I don't even want to deal with you anymore tonight."

Will gaped at her seemingly uncaring mother. Will might need to go to the hospital, she was in so much pain, but it didn't look like relief would be coming anytime soon. Her chest was burning so much after the normally short climb that seemed to have been much worse than usual. Her breath was ragged. Why did Susan have to tear into her so vehemently and not care what Will was going through?

"Mom..." Will croaked at, trying one last time as she winced from the pain searing through her.

"I have had it with this attitude of yours, the lack of respect not only for myself, but Dean as well! I have done everything I can for you, given you everything I can and you don't even seem to appreciate it lately. Always skipping classes, coming home late, sneaking out when I ground you." Susan said softly, Will could almost hear the tears in the older woman's voice as the older Vandom stood there destroying her daughter's last bit of hope. "I hate this new you, Will. I just want my daughter back, the little girl who cared and told me everything."

"But..."

"No Will, just go, I can't stand even looking at you right now. Go to your room and we will deal with this in the morning when the power is back on. After all, we will have plenty of time since you won't be going anywhere for a long time young lady."

At first Will debated about trying again, but instead she just shuffled past her mother and through the dark apartment towards her room. She pushed her way inside, shutting it while at the same time stripping the wet clothes off though she gasped in pain, almost crying out when she pulled the dripping wet shirt off. She wouldn't be able to wear a bra right then she doubted and another tee was out of the question, so she slipped a long sleeve blouse on slowly buttoning it up. She pulled on a knee length denim skirt and panties in place of the jeans since they were the only clean bottoms she had though they weren't exactly what she wanted. Maybe she could buy some sweats or something, anything to cover herself a little more for what she was planning.

Shuffling over to the desk she grabbed her backpack there and emptied it's contents across the smooth surface letting the papers and books scatter carelessly before going back to her closet and filling it with some of the baggier tops and a few skirts. Her jeans and slacks were gone from her room, most likely Susan was washing them when the power went out. Grabbing some extra socks and underwear to add to the small collection of clothes she sat on her bed sliding on the low heeled boots. She wasn't sure what exactly she was doing until that very moment and now she was wondering if this was the right thing to do.

"They don't care, Will. Why stay somewhere that you aren't wanted?" Will asked herself softly, her eyes moving to her nightstand and the folding double frame picture there. It was of happier times with mother and daughter in one and the other the girls and Will at the beach house during their vacation. There was a smaller picture of Matt with a corner tucked into the edge of the frame holding it up. With a surge of rage and a muffled sob the redhead grabbed the picture of the boy and tore it up before taking the frame and folding it and stuffing it in her bag as well.

If the pain from climbing the stairs was bad, climbing out the window and down the fire escape was worse. The pain searing through every movement as she climbed down the metal, slippery steps slipping several times and almost falling over the edge though she thankfully caught herself even if it did cause more pain in the end. It was when she was climbing down the ladder at the bottom that the pain became too much and she slipped from it falling several feet before her body met the cold, hard and wet unforgiving ground. Laying on her back, thankful that the glass didn't shatter and tear through her pack and into her back. After catching her breath as well as she could she crawled to her feet ignoring the wet spots and dirt on her clothes before picking a random direction and heading off in a slow, subdued pace thanks to her injuries.

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><p>Normally it was easy to sleep with he beloved husband by her side as the man was everything her ex-husband was not. He was supportive of everything in her life and he loved Will very much despite the two not getting along very well. He loved Susan with all of his heart and constantly showed in so many small ways that Tony had found too troublesome to even bother with. And the things he did, the things he could do, he made Susan feel like a teenager again which culminated in her current state. She was pregnant with their child, a testament to their love and affection for each other which made Susan extremely happy despite the morning sickness and hormones.<p>

It was the hormones she wished wasn't bothering her so much as she knew she was a royal bitch to those around her sometimes lately. She made things a little more difficult with Dean at times and with Will, Susan knew she had been a little too hard on the redhead lately. She was so disappointed in Will though, ever since they moved to Heatherfield the girl had changed and Susan had debated moving away and almost did. It tore at her heart though that her baby girl seemed to be gone replaced by this lying girl that took Will's place. Every time Susan turned around it seemed like Will was getting into and causing trouble such as skipping school constantly to the point where she was on the verge of failing more than once. When confronted about it Will refused to tell the truth and come up with some of the worse lies Susan had ever heard. And to make matters worse, she knew what her daughter was doing and she hated it. She wouldn't have enjoyed doing it, but Susan was willing to get her daughter on birth control to make sure that there was no accidents seeing that the redhead was too young to have a baby of her own. Will had gotten angry over the talk though, swearing that she had never done anything like that despite Susan being sure about it. All the signs pointed to it, or something else, and Susan preferred this to the alternative. Susan didn't want to believe Will was drinking or doing drugs, but the girl's attitude could be signs of it. Matt was in a band and bands were notorious for that kind of thing so maybe it wasn't so farfetched.

Pulling away from the snoring man nest to her Susan laid on her back staring up at the ceiling at a loss for what to do. She was so worried about Will and didn't know what to do as every time she tried talking to the younger girl they would end up getting into a fight despite trying her best not to let it happen. Running a hand over her stomach she sighed wondering if things would repeat themselves with the growing child in her womb. Would the new addition to the family grow to hate her like Will had been seeming to do?

Sighing heavily as she turned her head to look at Dean in the darkness of the room. She was so lucky to have him, he made her life so much better and yet she couldn't draw the comfort she normally could from him. She was so upset, her nerves on end after being so worried about Will while being utterly furious at the same time. If she came right home after the storm, or even called she would have understood her being at the boys house waiting out the storm. It was over for so long before Will finally got home, so long in fact that she was getting ready to go find the redhead herself.

The lights flickering on brought at least a little peace to Susan as she loathed to admit, but she hated not being able to turn a light on if she was feeling a little scared. Not that she was truly afraid of the dark, but every once in awhile she felt a shiver run down her back making her need to quickly turn on a light to soak in the brightness banishing the shadows and that irrational fear in the far corners of her mind.

Deciding to turn off the light so it wouldn't bother Dean, Susan slipped quietly from the bed and moved to the doorway where the light switch was placed next to on the wall. Reaching out to turn it off she felt a cold feeling flood through her, and it wasn't the normal feeling she got when the darkness was being too much since the light was on. She was uneasy about something, she felt as if something was wrong. Deciding it would be a good idea to check the rest of the apartment the woman made her way through the hallway and made sure the door was locked and turned the lights in the living room and small kitchen off.

Moving quietly back down the hallway she was going to check the bathroom when she noticed the light under her daughter's door realizing Will might still be awake. She was planning on peeking in on the redhead anyways to make sure she was okay. If she was awake though, maybe they could actually talk some while Dean slept. Susan had been trying to find the right time to tell Will that she was going to be a big sister, maybe now would be a good time. Maybe they could even have a decent conversation with no fighting though Susan didn't have high hopes for that.

Pushing the door open the first thing Susan noticed was the lack of anyone in the room though she guessed Will probably went to the bathroom maybe. She shook her head at the mess the room was in wishing that Will would take after her a little more and be more organized. There was books and papers scattered everywhere and some ripped up paper on the floor. Kneeling down to pick up a few of the scraps Susan felt a knot growing in her stomach, it was the picture of Matt that Will loved and kept in the picture frame that was...missing? The chill breeze blowing into the window made Susan shiver making her realize that it was open, as was the closet and a few of the dresser drawers that held a distinctive lack of clothing.

Her breath hitching Susan rushed out of the room flinging the bathroom door open as fear gripped her heart, Will wasn't in there. Her worry was growing by the second as she rushed back to the bedroom she shared with her husband, "DEAN!"

"Susan, what's wrong?" Dean asked groggily as he sat up in the bed, the blankets falling from his bare chest showing that he was a lot more muscular than his loose clothing normally showed.

"Will, I think she ran away!" Susan sobbed as she dove into the man's arms sobbing.

"Calm down sweetie, we'll find her." Dean soothed rubbing her back, "Have you called the police or her friends? Maybe her cell?"

Susan could only shake her head no as dread filled her, this was her fault. If she wasn't so hard on Will maybe she wouldn't have ran away.

"Come on, you call her cell and I'll try her friends houses." Dean suggested. Susan knew it was extremely late, or early depending on the point of view, but she had to know her baby girl was okay. She pulled away from Dean so she could go get her mobile phone and dial her number while Dean tried some of the girl's house. If Will didn't answer Susan decided Matt should be next.

"Olsen speaking." Matt's tired, angry sounding voice answered the phone making Susan sigh in relief. Will must have went straight to him.

"Thank god, please let me talk to Will." Susan said, anger and relief beginning to war for the dominant emotion finding where Will must have ran off to. She swore she wouldn't get mad though, she just wanted Will to come back so they could work this out.

"Sorry Mrs. V, but Will isn't here right now." Matt replied, his voice sounding very cruel and twisted. "By the way...did you know she screamed for you to save her?"

Susan's heart shattered as she limply fell to the floor, her eyes going wide as Matt laughed viciously before the line went dead. What did that bastard do?


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **September 10, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Actually, I wanted to post this last night, but I got home late from my date with my BF who gave me the fixed chapter. He helped a lot with this chapter, and many of the new content that will show up in the story. He doesn't much like writing, but he gave me tones of good ideas and convinced me to use some for this story as well as the other stories. I have seven chapters now typed up for this story, just waiting for my BF to go through them for me and look over my spelling and stuff. I will be posting more stories soon too, so I hope you like the new chapter and the rewrites of the other stories as well for the ones I have rewritten.

LINE CHANGE

The unforgiving heat and light from the early morning sun from just the right angle refused to leave the redhead alone from where she finally passed out in night sometime. She wasn't sure where she was as the darkness of the night made it hard to see where she was heading, but the forested area made her believe it was a hiking trail in a park or something. She didn't really recognize the area, but that didn't mean anything as she never really got to explore many of the areas in Heatherfield since moving there thanks to everything she had been through from becoming a guardian of the veil to trying to make her way through school, if barely.

She wanted to close her eyes again and go back to sleep, her head was throbbing painfully and her body was beyond sore. Her muscles were so stiff and protested every little movement from blinking her eyes to trying to cover them with her forearm to block out the sun. Despite the foliage and some of the cover from the trees, the position of the early morning sun was in a position that denied Will and peace for the torturous sunbeams.

She wasn't too sure how far she had gotten from home, but if she wanted to get away from there before Matt found her again or having to face her mother to be told what a failure she was, then she would have to get up and get moving. Climbing to her feet slowly, using the tree she was up against as support, the redhead made it to an upright position. The wave of dizziness and nausea that swept over her almost made her collapse again though she was able to stay standing thanks to the tree's support. After a few minutes Will pushed away from the tree, stumbling a bit at first before managing to start walking.

Where to go was another matter entirely, she had no one she felt she could turn to. Not the other guardians, they blamed her for what was happening with their powers. Matt was right about them, they probably only cared about her as the keeper, not as Will and would probably blame her for last night. She was trying to get away from Matt so going to Grandpa Olsen was out as well seeing as he would tell Will that she was the one to blame as well seeing how Matt was his family. She couldn't turn to her mother as last night all ready showed, Susan didn't care how much pain she was in as all the woman wanted to do was remind Will how pathetic and worthless she was. And now she felt so dirty on top of that, she felt so helpless and violated and all she wanted to do was curl up and cry or die.

Death was something she was no stranger with lately as she had been pondering it more and more as her life fell apart. She could easily end her life in so many ways and she would finally be able to rest in peace unless Candracar dragged her dead ass before the council to tell her how stupid and selfish she was for trying to find peace and make even her afterlife as crappy as her life was. It was one of the things that put her off of suicide as she knew for a fact that being dead didn't mean being at peace and being gone as many of the people on Candracar's council could attest to.

As she stumbled through the trees she idly thought how much easier and how much quicker this could be if she could just transform and fly. She didn't need to pull the heart out to see that the light was gone from it, her powers once again gone as they were last night. They seemed to be abandoning her when she needed them most as she should have been mostly healed up after sleeping as one of her passive powers that all of the girls shared was an extremely fast healing rate. It was the only reason their parents never found out about their so called side job as they were healed by the time the returned home most of the time. She wasn't healing though, her powers clearly not working as neither was her supposed eternal gift. Not that that would even have saved Will though as unlike the other girls, her powers were more passive in most ways. It wasn't like a talking toaster was going to save her from Matt or anyone else.

As the morning progressed Will stumbled out of the trees and into an unfamiliar part of the city. She was even wondering if she was still in Heatherfield since she didn't recognize the area she was getting into as the buildings and area was getting more and more rundown. It seemed to be dirtier, more gritty that she was used to as despite the struggles Susan and her had the two always lived in pretty upscale areas. She was beginning to suspect that she may have left the Heatherfield area for a neighboring town that was called Lowerton.

Lowerton was a place she doubted anyone would bother looking for her in because of the reputation it held. Many of the students at Sheffield always talked about how nasty the place was and how violent it was. Shootings every night with a prostitute or drug dealer on every corner as soon as the street lights came on. A homeless person in every alley with bottles covered in a brown paper bag, the stench f liquor permeating the air. People begging for money, stabbing you and stealing your wallet as soon as you tried to give them some. It was a place that scared Will in some ways as she believed a lot of the stories, though some of the ways the students talked about the people pissed her off to no end. These people were people, not things to be made fun of or objects to talk about things that disgusted Will, even more so after last night.

As the pain seemed to dull a little, or more likely her body becoming numb to it, she grew more and more tired. Her throat was so dry and sore from all of the screaming and crying from last night and she still hadn't had a chance to get a drink. Her strength was beginning to wane as she shuffled along the sidewalk now, passing a few people who seemed to steer clear of her while giving her either harsh glares or sympathetic glances though none said anything to her. Her suspicions were confirmed though when she saw a building that was shutdown though the old sign was still there with 'Lowerton' printed in faded yet large letters.

She finally collapsed on a bench under a canopy while ignoring the smells of urine that seemed to fill the air under the small structure. It was obviously a bus stop, if any buses stopped here anymore was questionable though. She could barely move anymore, she wanted to go back home, wanted things to go back to how they used to be. Things would never go back though, her mother didn't want her since she had Dean. Her so called boyfriend thought she was just a toy and he friends just wanted someone who could be a human battery for their powers. She was alone, her loved ones and people she trusted shattering her in every way imaginable and she was lost on what to do about it, on what to do with her life.

"Hey sweetie." A woman's voice said breaking Will out of her darkening thoughts. Looking up Will saw an older woman with graying hair up in a bun and a pair of glasses perched on her nose with sharp, hawkish features. She had a kind, gentle look in her eyes though as she looked Will up and down. Will could tell the woman was most likely a doctor as she wore a white lab coat with an ID type of badge clipped to one of the pockets and a pink set of scrubs underneath and a pair of sneakers which surprised Will a little. "What happened to you? Have you had those injuries checked out, they look pretty bad."

"It doesn't matter what happened." Will sighed as she looked at the ground shaking her head.

"I'm Doctor Betty Davis, but you can call me Betty. I run a free clinic not far from here, come on." Betty said putting out her hand in Will's field of vision, a silent offering to help the girl on her feet.

"I can't pay for it, I don't have that much on me." Will sighed again, wondering if she should even go if she wanted to get checked out. Of course she wanted the pain to stop, but how could she tell someone what Matt did to her. How could she admit to someone else that she was too weak to fight him off, that he violated her and hurt her in so many ways when she was having a hard enough time admitting it to herself?

"Sweetie, that is the definition of free. No money required for services rendered." Betty said as she took Will's hand and pulled the girl to her feet making the redhead gasp a bit in pain as the woman steadied her for a few minutes until the redhead was stable. "We are getting you checked out and I am not taking no for an answer. You don't have to mention names if you don't want, but I'm not letting you go on until we get you all patched up."

"Th-thanks, I guess." Will said softly, uncomfortable at the contact from the woman though thankful that at least someone cared a little if she was dead or alive. She didn't want to give her real name though incase people was looking for her so she blurted out the first name that came to mind, "My name is...Susan."

"Well Susan, my clinic is this way." Betty said leading Will away from the bench while giving support whenever the redhead needed it. The walk was mostly done is quiet, Will breathing heavily as her ribs protested as much as the rest of her body. It was hard enough walking as it was, but without enough time to really rest and heal things weren't made any easier for her. Between passing out at Matt's and what little sleep she had this morning, she doubted she slept more than a few hours if that long.

"No one is here?" Will asked raising her eyebrow as Betty stopped them in front of a bared door while fishing a set of keys out of her pocket.

"It's 12:40 Susan, since we run mostly from volunteer work we have to close from noon to two for a lunch break as the morning doctors go to their private practices while we wait for the afternoon shift to show up. I tried running myself, but without staff help as well as the lack of doctors during that time it just wasn't feasible." Betty explained as she unlocked the door, "Still, I help out when I see people who need it during those hours instead of making them wait."

"I can come back later then." Will said as she started to back away from the woman, something in the back of her mind saying that she would be alone with this woman in a building. No one else around to hear her if something happened, not that she believed anyone would help.

"Nonsense girl, we are getting you checked out now so don't argue with me." Betty said sternly pulling Will into the building with her. The lobby and waiting room area was pretty clean if a little run down with mismatched chairs surrounding a couple coffee tables holding what looked like old magazines. Will couldn't help looking around for an escape route and was a little worried to see that the door they just passed through was the only one and Betty was locking it back up. "Relax Susan, I promise everything will be okay, I won't hurt you."

Only being able to nod, Will let the woman lead her back through a door and down a hallway to a small room with a scale and two chairs. The scale was one of the old style kinds with the bulky blocks that you had to move along the numbers to balance out in order to see how much you weighed. Along the wall was a small counter with several cabinets and drawers.

"Okay, first we need to get your blood pressure and weight then we can head back to an examination room." Betty said motioning for Will to take a seat as Betty went to the cabinet and pulled out a manila folder and several sheets of paper before pulling a pen out of her pocket. After writing some stuff down on the papers and putting them in the clips of the folder, Betty pulled out a camera from the cabinet also along with a wrist style blood pressure monitor.

"What's the camera for?" Will asked while swallowing a little nervously before the woman snapped a quick picture of Will. It looked like an older camera and Will was surprised seeing a picture come out of the bottom of the bulky device. She heard of Polaroid's before, but she grew up around people who always had to have the current gadgets including digital cameras and the girls back in Heatherfield was no exception. Even her mother whose job involved electronics and gadgets always had the latest ones thanks to getting them free from her job for testing purposes.

"We need a picture in your file to verify that it is you if you need to come back." Betty said as she taped the picture to the inside of the folder's front cover. Will was a little worried that if for some reason her mom did bother looking for her that Betty would have the picture now to compare if Will's picture ended up in the newspaper or on the local news. "Is there a last name you would like to use for filing purposes, I know you are nervous so if you prefer you don't have to give your real name. Just don't forget it so we can pull your chart if you need to come back for anything."

"How about if I just give my last initial?" Will asked hoping that the woman would accept it.

"I suppose that would work out." The woman said giving Will a curious look, but she wrote down V when Will told her. She grabbed the blood pressure monitor and sat down in the other chair next to Will. "Let's get your blood pressure now sweetie."

Will tried to relax as Betty took her arm and slid the machine over her hand and gasped out when the cuff started to inflate. It stung a little, but Will kept quiet knowing that Doctor's didn't like you squirming or talking during this. She was thankful when the machine finally finished it's task releasing Will from it's squeezing embrace.

"I really hate those things." Will said, her voice soft as the scratchiness in her throat was starting to bother her again, even more than earlier. She was trying to joke though, trying to lift her spirits and put on a brave front, though she was failing miserably at it.

"Are you thirsty?" Betty asked as she wrote the numbers off the machine down in the chart as she studied Will closely as the redhead nodded nervously. Putting down the folder with a sigh the older woman gave he redhead a stern look meaning business, "I'm going to get you a cup of water and I want you to promise me you will be in that seat when I get back."

"I promise." Will said, noticing the worried yet softening look on the woman's face as she nodded satisfied with Will's answer. As much as she wanted to run, she wanted the water even more. Anything to help her hoarse and painfully scratchy throat.

"Okay, I will be right back, I expect you to keep your promise to." Betty said before leaving the room. Will sat back in the chair looking around the room again noticing pictures on the walls before realizing what kind of posters they were. Some were talking about support groups for breastfeeding, others showing the muscles in the body and the one that made Will want to cry was one talking about a place to safely leave your baby if you were pregnant but scared. It said it was an alternative to abortion or abandoning your child somewhere.

"Oh god." Will whimpered as she realized what could happen after last night. She could get pregnant, the baby could already be conceived. She could have a baby forming in herself at that very moment. Wrapping her arms around her stomach and leaning forward a bit she started crying. She never really thought about that aspect until seeing the poster drove it home in her head.

"Are you okay, what happened?" Betty asked after rushing back in and pulling the chair closer to Will so she could pull the crying girl's face up so the two could look eye to eye. The older woman was afraid to touch the young girl too much because she had easily see the way the girl was favoring her ribs and knew there was some damage there. The girls eyes darted to the wall making Betty look in the same direction to see what the redhead was looking at. "Oh sweetie."

Will could feel herself being drawn into the doctor's arms and squirmed a bit, fear filling her, but the older woman made calming noises while carefully rubbing her lower back in circles while gingerly holding her in an awkward hug. After a few minutes Will finally calmed down as she pulled away from the woman, so many new questions and fears filling her head. She didn't know what she was supposed to do for herself, what the hell was she going to do if she was pregnant?

"Here sweetie, drink this." Betty said softly while pushing a white foam cup into Will's hands for the redhead to realize it was a cup of water. Will greedily drunk it down and quickly regretted it. The quick motions not only aggravated the tenderness of her muscles, but the choking made her lungs and ribs scream in violent protest at the action. "Careful sweetie, let's get your weight and get you out of here and into an exam room."

Will took the woman's hand as she was helped to her feet and gently led to the scale which only took a few moments for Betty to get her weight and mark it into the chart. The two remained silent as Will tried desperately to get her mind on something besides the poster which seemed to be taunting her.

"Okay sweetie, this way." Betty said while thankfully leading Will out of the room and down the hall while stopping at several rooms to peek inside. The action confused Will a little until hearing Betty mutter something about the room being safe with none of those posters. Will felt a surge of gratitude for the woman caring enough to put her in a room where she wouldn't have to look at the poster accidentally. The room was much like the other though instead of two chairs it had one of those examination couch bed type of things and a stool on wheels. There was also another counter though this one had a sink built in and some paper towels and a liquid soap dispenser.

"Thank you." Will mumbled making Betty give her a sad smile.

"Okay, up on the table." Betty said pulling out a small metal step on the bed and helped Will get up on it and settled in while the woman pulled a stethoscope from inside her lab coat. The woman looked at Will a few moments while it seemed she was debating about something in her mind before a sad look crossed her face.

"You aren't wearing a bra, are you?" Betty asked, sighing as Will shook her head no nervously, her face turning red. "This will make it a little hard...I need to see your chest and back. I can give you a sheet to cover up with, but we don't exactly have hospital gowns as we don't normally cover anything major that requires one. We do deal with it from time to time, but e don't have the money to buy everything we need."

"I don't..." Will whimpered as she clenched her eyes closed, "I don't want you to see..."

"Sweetie, I'm a woman to, you don't have anything I don't have. I promise I won't hurt you nor will I judge you. I just want to help." Betty said softly, her voice taking on a tone that was meant to be reassuring to the younger girl. The woman reached out to take the redhead's hands in her own, rubbing the backs with her thumbs comfortingly. "I won't hurt you nor do anything you don't want me to, but I can se bruising on your neck sweetie as well as other...marks."

Will wasn't sure what to do, she was scared to let someone see her like that after what Matt did. She was also scared of what the woman would think or do once Betty could see the worse of the damage. She was shivering a bit until the woman took her hands and the way she spoke, and the way she acted, it seemed to be sending reassurances straight through her that Will would be okay. Shakily Will pulled her hands away and started to unbutton her blouse slowly. She kept her eyes closed as she undid button after button carefully before letting it slide off her shoulders. Hearing a gasp she opened her eyes to see tears forming in the older woman's eyes while holding a hand over her mouth.

"What kind of monster would do this?" Betty asked, her voice teary as she looked at Will with sadness in her eyes. A large part of Will chest and stomach as well as her back was a mass of bruises. There was also many bite marks on her shoulders, neck and her breasts ranging from red marks to what looked like someone actually tore several gouges out of the poor girl's skin. One thing that confused the woman though was some of the worse marks looked like they weren't done by a normal person's teeth, but something that had very sharp teeth, possibly fangs. Betty had seen many injuries caused by bites and knew they were about the size of a human, but they were far from a normal person's bite.

"My boyfriend..." Will whispered sadly making Betty choke.

LINE CHANGE

Not one to ever ignore his instincts or feelings, Herbert found himself arriving back in Heatherfield early morning just after the storm swept through the town leaving branches and trash littered across the soaked streets. He had to be careful as he drove, quietly thanking the necessity for two cars on the trip since they were planning picking up several cases of new promotional items for the pet store. His son and daughter in law rolled their eyes at him when he said he needed to head back and double check everything. At first he was going to just call Matt or Will and ask if everything was going okay since the redhead was taking care of the store for the weekend. When he couldn't get through to either of them, his son and daughter in law actually started to worry a bit as well. Herbert didn't see any point for both of them going back just to find nothing wrong and having to drive all that distance again, especially with his granddaughter in tow.

He just parked his car at the pet shop when the street lights flickered on above him as he climbed out of the car and went into the shop, unlocking the glass door and securing it after him as he hurried inside. It took about half an hour to make sure everything was okay as he needed to clean a few of the cages while there as the food and water was spilled from the animals getting scared over what must have been a doozey of a storm. The papers and litter were also in need of changing before he could finish up.

After what seemed like forever he stood in the middle of the sales floor with his arms crossed as he looked around. All the animals were now clean with dry bedding and fresh food and water. There didn't seem to be any leaks and no signs of forced entry or any other damage to the store. Yet the nagging feeling was still bothering him and it was getting much worse. There was something really wrong and it wasn't here which meant it must have been at home or possibly with Will. He considered trying the phones again, but as late as it was if there wasn't anything wrong he would just wake them up. Despite knowing something was wrong, he couldn't wake everyone up this late if he didn't know the source of the feeling. His family made fun of his so called instinct a lot, he didn't want to let the young redhead he came to love very much know about how weird he was as it might drive her away.

Turning the lights back out and locking up after himself Herbert found his way back out to the car and started it up. Another reason he didn't want to call anyone just yet was the distance between the pet shop and home was less than five minutes on foot so it would take considerably less time to reach home by car, even with the debris scattered along the ground. Not long after pulling away from the pet shop Herbert was pulling into one of the stalls of the garage and entered the house by the kitchen, stopping long enough to take the soaking wet boots off before entering.

Turning the light on as he entered the door he saw that the kitchen was in one piece, which must have meant Matt ordered take out or ate out with Will. Either way, at least there wasn't a mess from the kitchen being turned into a miniature disaster zones from one of the boy's attempts at cooking. Playing a guitar the boy could do, cooking wasn't. Stripping his coat off he made his way into the barely let living room as the light from the kitchen spilled in illuminating it a little. It didn't stop him from tripping over something, almost falling before he caught his balance. Looking down there was a small pool of white fabric. Reaching down he picked the article of clothing up to gasp, they were way too small to belong to his daughter in law which meant they had to belong to someone else, most likely Will.

Shaking his head as he moved to the front door foyer he hung up his coat and tossed his hat on the rack above. He noticed that Will's coat was hanging there which confirmed his suspicions of who the panties belonged to. Of course this wasn't the first time the girl left her coat there overnight, so if that was all that was found then there probably wouldn't have been anyone to bat an eyelash. With her panties laying in the middle of the living room floor, there was a lot of evidence pointing at something happening.

Herbert loved Will like a member of his family, as if she was his granddaughter. While he believed that the two were kind of young to be getting so intimate, he knew that they would keep doing so with or without permission. He remembered being a teen, remembered how it was like believing that he knew everything including and knew nothing could happen. Boy did he have a rude wake up call when his girlfriend got pregnant. Unlike what most guys would probably do at that age, Herbert stuck with her and they even ended up marrying her. Even to this day he misses his wife, god rest her soul.

In the morning he would have to have a long talk with Matt before Herbert could leave. He needed to make sure that if they did want to take their relationship to that level and be intimate, that they were responsible enough to use protection. He doubted Matt would leave Will alone if something did happen, but it was better to be safe anyways. Herbert had to admit that he was happy for the two teens though, he knew Will wouldn't have slept with Matt unless she was ready and truly loved him while Matt would never really pressure her into anything.

Quietly slipping down the hall, Herbert opened the bedroom door belonging to Matt and was relieved to see him in bed, alone and asleep. Going back to the kitchen to get an extra bag left over from grocery shopping, Herbert went to put the panties in it to give to Matt and tell him to return them. He noticed that they were ripped though when he started to put them in the bag which was playing as his worry, making him feel even more uneasy. Maybe they were tore some other way or the two were getting into the heat of the moment a little too much. Either way, he knew he definitely needed to have a long talk with his grandson as soon as the sun rose.

A thought struck the older man as he bagged up the article of clothing which made Herbert grumble in annoyance. The family did love Will, though his daughter in law was slow in accepting the redhead and Herbert didn't think the woman would be to happy to learn of this. Every time Matt was late or got in any kind of trouble, his daughter in law was quick to lay the blame on Will. The old nanny-cam he had bought when Matt was little was now in use again making sure the babysitter didn't hurt his precious granddaughter in anyway. The problem was it was sitting in the living room where the panties was found which means if his daughter in law found anything containing Matt and Will doing anything, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. It had a motion detector on it so it was more than likely to have picked up something seeing how it had it's own battery power.

Grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge he carried the bag with him and grabbed the innocent looking teddy bear off the mantle over the fireplace and headed down the nightlight lit hallway to his room to check and see if the thing did catch anything and make sure to erase it before it opened a can of worms he didn't want to deal with, now or ever if he was honest with himself. He loved his daughter in law, he truly did, but the woman could be too much of a bitch at times.

Thankfully the bear was an older model, even if that fact did make it larger and heavier than needed. He wasn't very good with computers and all of the electrical gadgets that was more or less the standard anymore which is why his shop still used old fashioned cash registers and hard copies for his clients instead of a computer system to keep track of everything. The nanny-cam had an old VHS recorder built into it which used an extended tape combined with the motion detector to make sure it have enough room for recording.

After getting to his room he shut the door behind him and flicked the light on while taking the tape out of the bear he slid it into the VCR and dropped sown on the corner of his bead with the remote in hand. Turning the TV on, Herbert settled into watching the tape to make sure the babysitter didn't hurt his granddaughter. He shouldn't have worried as the babysitter always treated the small girl with love and tenderness, and this time was no different. Still, he had to make sure before he could erase the tape. The problem was that it took a couple hours to look through the whole tape and get to the end of the of the section with the babysitter before it started up again.

Herbert started to reach for the button to stop the tape before he heard Will cry out in a way that ran shivers along the aged man's back. That was not a cry of passion, that was a cry of pain begging for Matt to stop. Dropping the remote from his limp fingers, Herbert couldn't believe the nightmare he was saying. The picture was dark and the figures were hard to make out, but there was no doubt as to what was going on. He couldn't believe Matt was capable of something like this and if it wasn't for the tape there was a possibility that Herbert would have doubted it. He was seeing it with his own eyes though and his anger was rising as his heart was breaking.

"Matt!" Herbert shouted angrily as he stormed out of his room and down the hall to his grandson's room only to find it empty. It only took a few more minutes to search the house thoroughly as the morning rays were starting to leak through the windows giving enough light to see. He hadn't realized it took that long to finish the tape, but it must have and Matt must have taken off already. Deciding to deal with his grandson later, Herbert moved back to the kitchen and checked the handset there. There was thankfully a dial tone which meant the phone was working allowing him to dial a number he knew by heart even though his hands were shaking badly. He figured out why he was having such feelings of uneasiness earlier and this meant he wouldn't be going back, Will was more important than this trip.

"Hello." A tired and weary sounding voice answered before it grew hopeful, "Will, is that you? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, Susan, it's Herbert Olsen." Herbert replied, a knot forming in his throat from hearing this. Matt couldn't have done even more to Will, could he? His world was falling out from under him, his grandson was apparently a rapist and abusive bastard and Will was missing. "You haven't seen Will since last night?"

"You tell that little bastard that I'll kill him if he's done anything to Will!" Susan sobbed, her voice becoming more and more broken by the woman's cries making it harder and harder to understand her.

"Herbert, Susan just tried to call Will and Matt answered." Dean's voice said over the phone, apparently taking it from Susan as the elder man heard the teacher trying to sooth his wife. "He said something to her that made it sound like he hurt Will."

"I'm so sorry, Dean. Matt's gone to, he was here when I got home a little bit ago, but when I found something and went to confront him, he was gone." Herbert sighed, "I have something...something you both need to see. Can I bring it over?"

"I suppose, we're waiting for Tom to get here to." Dean said, the comment making Herbert's stomach twist. He should have known the police would be called in over this, and frankly Herbert couldn't find one reason not to cooperate with them if asked any questions despite the sadness it caused him. If Matt did this then he needed to pay the consequences, and if something was wrong with him, then he needed help. Surely the Matt he knew wouldn't do something like this for no reason, at least Herbert hoped the boy wouldn't.

"I'll be right over, I guess Tom would be interested in this also." Herbert said before hanging up he phone. He was an old man, he admitted that, but right now he was feeling every year of his age despite feeling pretty young usually.

LINE CHANGE

Will was relieved, if a bit shaken as she pulled her clothes back on. The entire battery of tests were humiliating enough as Betty ended up bringing in another young woman who was another doctor who helped with Will's diagnosis. The new woman was a tall, slender woman with short blonde hair in a similar style as Will's own with piercing blue eyes. She wore a white doctor's coat similar to Betty's own though that was where any similarities ended. Her outfit was a little off for what Will would have thought a doctor would be wearing. She was wearing a pink low cut top that showed a little more skin than Will believed was professional. Her skirt was also shorter showing off a lot of the long, slender legs that ended in a pair of strappy high heels that added several inches to the woman's already intimidating height.

The woman's appearance wasn't the only difference from Betty as her attitude was much cooler to everything going on. While Betty was kind and gentle, the woman seemed to be blunt and her emotions seemed to be frozen as she didn't tiptoe around anything and made snide remarks more than once. A part of Will wanted to snap at the woman, to get angry at her, but they were helping Will for free.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath as she finally got all her clothes back on and straightened up the best she could despite the dirt and wrinkles on them. A night of sleeping, or in her case a few hours, on the ground under trees after a storm didn't exactly make for prime sleeping conditions.

"Rachel, I know you are just trying to get the girl mad, but it isn't helping." Will heard Betty's voice through the door. Her voice didn't seem angry or anything, just chiding as she scolded the woman.

"I'm just trying to help, mom. She needs to get angry, get some fire in her before she..." The younger woman's voice replied, apparently Betty's daughter and named Rachel.

"I know honey, and I appreciate it, but more is going on here than just her boyfriend raping her. She's hurting from her family to, didn't you notice how upset she became when asked about her mom?" Betty sighed as Will noticed the doorknob move a bit. Apparently they were on there way back, but they stopped to talk. "We're medical doctors, not therapist or psychologist. I want to all children services, but the moment I do that girl will run away and she won't get the help she needs. I'd rather stay of the girl's good side and make sure she heals than make her even more upset and possibly have something happen to her."

"So, your going to send her to sis?" Rachel asked.

"That's the plan, if anyone can help that poor girl it's going to be Jenny." Betty said before pushing the door open to walk in with her supposed daughter in tow, a kinder look on the woman's face than earlier. Will was a little surprised when the blonde sat down beside Will on the examination table and took the redhead's hand and gave a reassuring squeeze.

"Hey kiddo, how are you holding up?" Rachel asked, her attitude having done a complete 180.

"Honestly?" Will sighed, "I want to find a corner to crawl into and die."

"Oh sweetie." Rachel whispered as she pulled the redhead into a gentle hug. Will shivered a few moments from the close intimate contact, though unlike during the exam from early where Betty checked for any damage and collect samples, Will was able to keep in control. She was still embarrassed about freaking out and lashing out like that, it seemed so real though when she saw Matt take the older woman's place coming at her. Betty explained about flashbacks after that and reassured Will that it was okay, that she wasn't mad.

Of course that wasn't the only embarrassing things that Will had to endure during the exams as she hated the poking and prodding despite the gentle hands of the older woman. Betty had also insisted that she had to take pictures of the injuries, all of her injuries. She hated knowing that Matt hurt her so much, and she hated that she had to show someone the injuries even more, but to have pictures of them taken really hurt and made her queasy. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter though as she wanted to get checked out because the pain was coming and going so much that it was driving her insane. Not that she didn't feel that she was on the edge as it was. She had meant it when she said she wanted to die, she's thought about that a lot the last few weeks as things became more and more strained with everyone she knew.

"Susan, before I go over all of the test results with you, I want to discuss a few things with you. The first is, I know that you ran away from home, I've seen a lot of girls here in your position so please don't try to deny it. I won't call the police or social services, but I do want to offer you a place to stay and recover. We can figure out what you want to do when you are feeling better and I will do my best to help you with any decision you come up with."

"I...I need to think about it." Will said, a little shocked at that. Was this woman, this stranger really offering her home as a safe haven to her? She didn't really have anywhere else to go, but she wasn't sure if she could trust this woman. The mention of social services made her very weary of taking the offer because if they got involved she would just probably get sent back to Heatherfield. She couldn't call it home as to her, a home was where you were loved and felt safe which she felt neither anymore.

"Fair enough, Susan." Betty sighed, "If you accept my offer or not though, I want you to go see Jennifer Ryans at Rainbow Counseling. She specializes in counseling for children and teens who deal with very traumatizing events. I'll give you a card and she won't charge you."

"Thanks, I'll go talk to her." Will sighed as she pulled away from Rachel a little, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. She didn't really want to go see this counselor, she was raped not going crazy. Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to someone about what happened.

"Okay, now I guess we should get to these results." Betty said as her tone of voice took on a bit more of a professional quality as the older woman glanced over the charts and paperwork in her hand. "First let me say how lucky you are that most of the damage was superficial as from the looks of the bruising it could have been much worse. The only real internal damage from the beating that monster gave you was a few bruised ribs and one cracked one. You need to take it easy and make sure you take the medicine I'll give you to stop the pain from bothering. It could have been worse though as you could have broken ribs, punctured lungs from broken ribs, or any number of other injuries like bruised or ruptured kidneys. Thankfully your head injuries were minor as well despite the symptoms of a concussion. There isn't any signs of a concussion from the tests that we gave you though which is a huge relief. There also was no tearing or any severe damage caused from the actual...penetration. I did get samples though so if you decide to press charges we have the evidence needed to pretty much present an open and closed case."

"So basically what you are saying is that I'm okay, but I'm going to hurt for awhile." Will sighed as she tried to ignore her stomach. It was getting late in the day and she didn't have anything to eat since last night.

"That's pretty much the gist of it kiddo." Rachel said ruffling her hair a bit. "Though that only covers the physical damage. You really, really need to go see Jenny because as much as you may want to deny it, what that bastard did to you is going to leave emotional scars. While Betty here is a miracle worker, she can only treat your body."

"Thanks, I just don't know what to do. I need time to think, I need to get some air." Will said pushing off the bed and to her feet to wobble a few seconds as she got her bearings. She couldn't help blush as her stomach growled loudly.

"Here, go get a bite to eat while you think of Betty's offer. We'll wait here for you after we finish with the rest of our patients." Rachel said pulling a few loose bills from her pocket and pushing them into Will's hands.

"These are your medications, Susan. This one," Betty said pulling to medicine bottle from her pocket and handed the first to Will. "Is your antibiotic, it needs to be taken every eight hours. The other is some pain medication, we don't easily give these out and I can only give you a few for now, so only take them when you really need them. When you need more, if you do, I'll give you some."

"Thank you both." Will sniffed, trying to keep from crying. Despite Rachel's attitude at first, these two women seemed to be more caring and helpful than her own mother and that was tearing her up inside. Why couldn't Susan care about her like these two women?

"Your very welcome my dear." Betty said while moving to gently hug Will while being careful to do so slowly so as not to frighten the redhead anymore than she already was. After a few moments she backed up and looked deeply in Will's eyes. "My offer is genuine Susan, if you want I will be more than happy to offer you a place to stay and get better."

"Thank you." Will said softly, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. "I just need some time, I need to think and I need something to eat."

"Okay, but don't take long if you decide to take me up on my offer. We will stay for awhile after we finish with our patients, but we have other responsibilities so can't stay forever." Betty said sadly, as if she already knew what path Will was going to choose. "If you need more time to think about everything, my door will always be open here so just come find me."

"I will, thank you for everything." Will said as she backed away from the women before hurrying out of the door and out toward the lobby. She stopped in shock for a moment at the sight waiting her. Where the lobby was empty when she came in it was now crowded with people, the number so great that there were people having to stand since all of the seats were taken. Ignoring the peoples looks as she slowly edged around them, especially the few men who looked at her in unveiled interest, Will made her way out of the building before releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding.

She wasn't sure what to do next though as she squinted from the brighter light of the outside world as the sun glared down at her. Blinking a few times she noticed a few people standing outside of the small clinic, wondering if they had somewhere to go or if they were homeless? She couldn't help but wonder about all of the rumors back at school, a little fear beginning to enter her as she remembered stories about druggies robbing you for all the money you had or people forcing girls into prostitution by either threats or getting them hooked on some kind of drug that made them do anything for just a little more. Then there were the stories of the ones who drunk so much that it was all they knew, and most of them were violent people who wouldn't think twice of hurting someone if they even made eye contact.

Groaning a bit as her stomach picked that moment to made itself known again rather loudly. Her face flushed a bit as she looked around to see if anyone noticed, or if she pissed anyone off enough to get attacked. Seeing a blonde girl of maybe close to the same age if not older who was leaning against the building a few moments ago push off and calmly make her way towards Will made the redhead take an involuntary step back. The blonde girl had short, somewhat spiky hair with a few bangs falling into the sapphire orbs that had a hard, piercing edge to them. The small, silver skull earrings made Will wonder if the girl was in a gang or maybe a druggie while the several silver chains that circled her neck and disappeared down into her cleavage and into the stained and slightly torn white tank top. She wore tight, faded jeans which had numerous rips running through them and black sneakers that had clearly seen better days. The girls physique made Will a little jealous as though she looked close to Will in age, she was much more curvier. Despite having a lean build that showed she had some muscle, it didn't detract from the feminine curves that almost resembled an hourglass. A small part of Will's mind, while jealous, was also noticing just how beautiful the girl was despite the rough look.

"Damn girl, just when was the last time you ate?" The blonde asked, mirth feeling her eyes. From the curious look the blond was giving, Will could tell that she wasn't being mean and seemed partly worried for some reason.

"Y-Yesterday." Will squeaked out as she lowered her head, unable to look the girl in the eyes. There was so many thoughts running through her head as the girl stood mere inches from the redhead. Fear was on of the feelings, though a good dose of embarrassment and jealousy was also vying for an equal foothold.

"Are you new on the streets?" The girl asked, not bothering to hide her obvious studying of the redhead from head to toe several times, taking in her appearance.

"I'm not a whore and I don't want any drugs." Will said before she realized she was saying it. She wished she hadn't though when the blonde pushed her back into the side of the building, the cold stone hitting her back and making her gasp in pain before looking up to see the incensed look in the blonde's eyes who glared at Will.

"Neither am I, do I look like one?" The blonde demanded, one hand on the wall next to Will's head making the redhead shiver in fright as the blonde locked eyes, stormy blue challenging shimmering hazel. "Not everyone on the street is a whore or drug dealer, red. Most of us don't even have a choice since jobs are becoming harder and harder to find while people's homes get foreclosed. Everyone here has a story, Red, what's yours? Why are you doing out here?"

"I'm not homeless." Will whimpered, trying hard to contain the growing fear of the blonde whose face was so close to her own.

"Really then? You have a home to go back to? A loving family who gives a shit about your well being?" The blonde sneered, the anger draining from her eyes as she stared into Will's own as the silence was all the answer needed. "Then I hate to burst your bubble, Red, but that makes you homeless just like me."

Will's head was spinning as realization dawned on her, reality being shoved unforgiving into her mind. She was now homeless, truly homeless just like the people the students back at Sheffield all made fun of. She was now trash like most of the people out there. She couldn't stop the tears from escaping as she looked back at the blonde, hopelessness overcoming her. She was dirty, filthy from what Matt forced her to do. She had no friends or family who cared enough to help her, and now she was on the street where she would probably end up dead soon enough. Maybe if she was lucky this girl would put her out of her misery.

"Listen to me, Red." The girl sighed as she took the trembling redheads face gently in her hands, thumbs wiping away the tears. "I'm out here because I had to choose between staying with a father who couldn't keep his hands to himself or getting away from him before he seriously hurt me. That doesn't make me trash. It doesn't make me a whore and it doesn't make me dirty. And it will be a cold day in hell before I touch any drugs. What all of this does make me is a girl with shitty luck who is doing her best to survive."

"How? How do you survive? How will..." Will asks, her voice cracking as she looked into the softening eyes of the blonde.

"How will you? I have a feeling we're running from similar pasts if those bruises on your neck are any indication." The blonde said, sympathy filling the once angry eyes. "Did your family hurt you?"

"M-My boyfriend...My family doesn't care." Will whimpered, trembling as the redhead gently pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"Well Red, you are homeless now like me. You will get eaten alive if you don't have someone to show you the ropes." The blonde sad as she backed away and took Will's hands in her own. "Tell you what, you stick with me and I'll do my best to show you everything you need to know and do my best to protect you."

"Why?" Will managed to croak out while searching for any signs of deceit in the blonde's eyes.

"Because, we girls have to stick together. Especially with fucked up pasts like ours." The blonde said while giving a smile, "My name's Danni, what's yours?"

"You can call me..." Will started to say, chewing on her bottom lip a few seconds before finally finishing with, "Red."

"Okay...Red," Danni said, a look of disappointment and slight hurt flashing through the blonde's eyes at the outright lie of Will's true name. "First things first, let's go get something to eat then we can decide what to do after."


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **September 11, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

**All my prayers and best wishes go out to all the people effected by the tragedy of the 9 11 attacks. **

Not much in the way of notes this time, though I did want to let everyone know that I will be continuing all of the stories I had on my old account, some of them I have already worked a lot on in my notebooks during the summer when I didn't have easy access to a computer. Since I didn't have easy access and didn't have the luxury of our computer since it was damaged during our move, I rewrote alot of the stories I already did by memory and added a lot of stuff. A lot of the new stuff was also in thanks to my boyfriend as I type it up I've also added even more stuff from suggestions he pointed out and gave me.

Also, to the people I will be catching up on stories with. Just to let you know in advance, my boyfriend gave me his eReader since he bought an iPad this summer. I am copying off the stories I love and saving them in Office so I can read them on the eReader. This being said, when I come back on to review the stories, I may be posting several reviews back to back for all of the chapters I read so they will be showing up within minutes of each other. LOL, yes that means I will have read the story so don't worry if you see reviews popping up in almost spam like speeds.

**LINE CHANGE**

It was almost like watching a horror show, or more like a car wreck. Susan shivered as Dean held her close to him, watching in shock as the tape played in the old VCR hooked up to their entertainment system. Will had urged the woman to get rid of it and just keep the DVD player before BlueRay, and then the redhead had tried to convince the former Vandom to switch to it. Susan refused though as she had a lot of older movies on VHS and enjoyed watching them, after seeing this though she wondered if she would ever watch another of them as most of them was Lifetime true life movies and now she was living one.

What could she do? She knew she had been rough on Will lately and she basically turned her baby girl away when she needed her mother the most. Susan didn't know it happened, she couldn't really see that well in the dark despite the flicker of light the candle offered. She couldn't see the shape that Will must have been in, yet she should have listened instead of sending the broken girl to her room. This whole situation was as much her fault as Matt's in some ways, despite her not wanting to admit her part in the redhead running away. If she had only been there for Will, then the teenager would have had someone to comfort her and help her and would have stayed there where it was safe. Susan was angry, no she was pissed and it wasn't at Will, it was at herself and that bastard who dared to lay a finger on the redhead.

"I-I can't believe this." Susan sobbed as she buried herself in her husband's side. She should have known, she should have done something to help her little girl. She just should have realized something was wrong when the girl came in so late yet she let her anger and pride get the best of her, hormones or not.

"Herbert, I think you should leave." Dean said, his voice rough as he glared at the oldest of the three men gathered in the living room. Tom Lair was sitting in an easy chair next to the couch where the Collins were perched while Herbert was pacing behind the couch, an angry yet worried expression adorning his face.

"Keep the tape, Dean. And Tom, I will be more than happy to testify on Will's behalf." Herbert sighed sadly. He loved his grandson dearly and didn't know how the boy could do something like this, but he did and Matt would pay the consequences for his actions.

"He's your grandson, do you really want to testify against him?" Tom asked while giving the older man a stern glare. The police captain took pride in his work, but there was nothing to be proud of in this situation. His daughter was friends with not only Will, but Matt as well. No matter what happened this was going to hurt the whole group of friends in ways he didn't even want to think about. It would probably shake their trust a great deal and make them wonder just who they could trust. Tom knew he was asking himself that same question that very moment as he personally knew Matt and he never believed the boy was capable of something like this.

"Yes, I will, Tom. Don't get me wrong, I love Matt, but what he did...I can't even begin to wonder what the hell the boy was thinking." Herbert said as he ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. "Matt did this, Tom, he did this and he should pay the consequences for it."

"Thank you, Herbert." Susan sniffed from her perch next to her husband, not pulling away.

"It's the least I can do, Susan." Herbert sighed sadly.

"I want you two to stay here, Susan and Dean, in case Will comes home or calls. I'm going out to look for her and pick Matt up if I can find him. I wouldn't make any calls in case Will tries to call." Tom said as he gathered his hat and climbed from the chair.

"Please find her, Tom." Dean said as Tom nodded sadly to the man before leaving with Herbert in tow.

**LINE CHANGE**

Not exactly sure what to expect from the strange blonde haired girl, Will let herself be led through the town giving her some view into the town that she found herself in. A lot of buildings down what she believed was a bad part of town as the buildings all seemed run down. While it was clearly not the main area of town, it looked like there were once many different privately owned small businesses though now the majority were closed down despite some of the signs, though damaged, still remained.

Will couldn't help feel bad for the people of the town, as she had heard her mom talking to Dean about the two huge factories that once provided many of the jobs here went bankrupt and was forced to close their doors. So many people lost their jobs, and while the lucky ones were able to leave to other areas in search of new jobs, there were those not so lucky. With the two biggest sources of income gone and the mass exodus from the once thriving community, the smaller businesses could not continue to remain open as their sales began failing driving even more places to close their doors.

With all of that happening to the town, Will could see why so many people would turn to drinking to drown their sorrows when they lost their jobs and without income, their homes. Thanks to that, people also must have turned to drugs to get over their pain as well as a way to try and make some money by selling. On top of that, many girls and some guys must have become desperate enough to begin selling themselves just to get by while some unscrupulous people likely took advantage of them by getting them hooked on drugs and forcing them to work for them. It was a vicious cycle, one Will really didn't want to become a part of, knowing that many of these people became violent and dangerous due to desperate times.

Danni though didn't seem like that, true she was very pretty and if Will was honest with herself enough to admit it, she found the blonde very hot. It was something that disturbed her somewhat as she never really thought of another girl as being hot, and it made her even more uncomfortable as those lines of thoughts brought her back to one of the biggest reasons she was put her now, Matt. She didn't want to think of that, nor did she really want to think about being forced into doing it again which was a possibility on the street. Even if she didn't become a prostitute, it didn't mean anyone wouldn't rape her again and no one would help her as the authorities wouldn't bat an eyelash at street trash getting hurt.

"You should try and lighten up a little, Red." Danni said, breaking Will from her spiraling thoughts. "I know you are going through a lot Red, I know that better than most, but if you give in to the darkness then you are letting that bastard who did this to you win. Do you want that?"

"N-No." Will sighed, shaking her head negatively while the blonde pulled the redhead with her into a line of people leading into a large yet rundown building. Most of the people in the line wore clothes torn and or stained much like Danni's own making Will wonder what was going on. "This is where we're going to eat? They must have some really good food."

"Yeah, good for being free. The food is a little bland here, Red, but it's better than nothing. It's something that will keep you from starving." Danni explained before more people got in line behind the pair. "This church does it's best to help and provide for all of the people here, those who lost their jobs or whatever other reasons they ended up on the street."

A knot formed in the pit of Will's stomach as she listened to the blonde, feelings of guilt swelling up. She had money to buy some food, she shouldn't be in this line for free food when she could buy a meal. It wasn't right, there were people who didn't have money that needed it more than her. "This is wrong, Danni."

"What's wrong, Red?" The blonde asked, confusion in her voice as she looked up at Will who was pulling some money out of her pocket. Danni hurriedly made Will put the money back away while giving the redhead a stern look. "Never, ever show off money out here. Most people is honest enough to leave you alone, but some can get desperate enough to take advantage of you and take it. Listen to me, Red, just because you have a little money doesn't mean that you aren't supposed to be here. That looked like enough for maybe one or two meals at most which you need to save in case of emergencies. The churches here run off of donations and while it doesn't happen often, there are times they just don't have the funds to open their doors for these meals. Save the money for then, it will keep you from doing desperate things."

"Danni is right, girl." The old woman who was now being the teen girls said making Will jump a bit. "Some people will take every chance they get to take what they want from you. If you are new on the streets then I suggest sticking to someone trustworthy like our little blonde here."

By now the line had moved into the building for Will to see rows of tables like at a school cafeteria with a coupe tables set up with foam trays stacked up and another with a couple women dishing out food to the people in line. The smell was kind of good, the aroma making Will's stomach growl a little more. She wasn't sure what Danni's idea of bland was, but the food was better smelling than the stuff they served at school.

"Jessie here is right, Red, you need to stick with someone and like I said earlier I will show you the ropes if you stick with me. You need to learn who to trust and your first lesson is that looks can be deceiving."

"It's true, at first glance our little friend here looks like a slut." The woman said with a slight smirk.

"Hardy har har, you old hag." Danni said shooting a glare at the old woman who had an innocent look on her face. The two started to grin at each other after a few moments having a quiet laugh.

"She isn't a slut though, Danni is one of the most honest and kindest girls around and one of the best people you will meet on the street. You just have to get a past her rough exterior to find that heart of gold buried deep inside." The old woman said, "I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet. The name's Jessie."

"My name is Red, I guess." Will said while shooting a look to the blonde girl though she still noticed the unphazed look on the older woman's face.

"Well Red, just stick with Danni here and she will take good care of you." Jessie said with a twinkle in her eyes, "Just be careful not to lead her on, she's had her heart broken too many times already."

"Huh?" Was Will's oh so elegant response as she looked at the older woman in confusion. Was Jessie insinuating that the blonde was gay? A lesbian? Will didn't know what to think of that, but so far Danni hadn't done anything inappropriate and was truly looking out for her.

"Also, don't start dressing slutty like she does." Jessie grinned.

"Hey, you old bat, I don't dress slutty! Can I help it if everything I find is either too tight or too loose for me?" Danni huffed as she crossed her arms. "Don't worry, Jess, I'll show the kid everything you showed me."

Will couldn't help smiling a little at the antics of the older woman and the blonde haired teen. Apparently the two knew each other pretty well and were on friendly, if she could call it that, terms. In fact, it reminded Will of how her relationship with her mother used to be like before Dean came into the picture and ruined everything. Sighing sadly, Will tore her mind from that thought before it depressed her even further and instead turned her attention to her new...friends?

"Thanks, both of you." Will said, giving the two a small smile as the line moved even more putting the three next in line to get their food, Danni being first, followed by Will and finally the old woman before even more people made up the rest of the line. The three grew silent as Danni picked up a tray and a packet with a napkin and plastic spork.

"Oh honey, what happened to you?" A plump brunette woman asked as she eyed Will with sympathy, her eyes staring at the bruising on Will's neck.

"I don't want to talk about it." Will mumbled softly as she followed Danni's example of gathering a tray and eating utensil. As Danni did, Will held out her tray and let the woman scoop some food on the plate consisting of a slice of meatloaf, mashed potatoes with a little gravy, some vegetables and a dinner roll. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

"You don't have to explain dear," The woman said giving Will a soft yet sad smile. "If you ever need someone to talk to we are here to listen, after all that is what we are here for. We're here to help all of God's children in every way that we can."

"Thank you." Will replied while giving a weak smile back at the woman who seemed genuinely concerned for Will's well being. So far everyone she had met here had shattered the image she had formed in her head of Lowerton. So far she didn't see any violence or people trying to hurt her in any way. It just showed how true the saying, "Don't believe everything you hear." truly was.

Picking up a paper cup from the stack of them next to a large water cooler, Will poured herself some water just as Danni had and followed the blonde to a table sitting next to her. A few moments later the older Jessie joined them sitting on Will's open side as she sat down her tray on the table.

"This is pretty good." Will said as she ripped open her spork and took a bite of the meatloaf. It was much better that the food at the school cafeteria though it wasn't as good as Yan Lin's cooking or even her own mother's. The thought of her mother made her tear up a little, but the redhead ruthlessly forced those thoughts out of her head. Even after the rift that formed between mother and daughter, after all of the pain Susan caused Will, the teenager still missed her mother badly.

"Don't get used to it, Red." Danni said as she ate from her own tray. "They must have had a lot of donations this time, or a really good cook volunteered. The food is usually much more bland than this."

"But it will keep you from starving." Jessie said, "And keep you from having to resort to dumpster diving."

"That's just gross, people don't really eat out of the dumpsters." Will said, earning glares from several of the people sitting around them making the redhead draw in on herself some. Noticing the hurt look in the blonde's eyes and the sad yet knowing look in Jessie's, Will couldn't help but to swallow nervously. "Do they?"

"Red, when the donations are low and there is no place to get food, you get hungry. You get so hungry you will resort to anything. Most honest people eat out of dumpsters and a few shoplift from stores." Danni explained sadly.

"Not that shoplifting is honest, but sometimes it is better than what some people do." Jessie said quietly. "Some people will outright rob people, hurting and possibly killing them for a few dollars. Killing someone, or hurting someone like that is never the right thing to do."

"You get used to eating of the trash, Red. It isn't as bad you are probably imagining even though it isn't a picnic either." Danni explained as she swirled her spork around in her potatoes. "Red, no matter who you were or where you come from, if you plan to stay on the streets you need to learn one thing. We may be nothing to most people, but we don't have to act like it. We don't have to act like animals, we can survive without killing and without hurting others. I promise I will do my best to help you and protect you, I can tell you are a good person."

"If you plan to take the darker path though child, if you plan on hurting people just to get a couple dollars, then please say so now." Jessie said, her voice becoming more serious than it had been so far since they met up. Her eyes became harder as she stared at Will, looking deep in the redhead's eyes as if searching her soul.

"I'm sorry." Will sighed hanging her head, regretted her words moments earlier. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings and you don't have to worry about me hurting anyone else. I'd never wish what happened to me on anyone else."

"Cheer up, Red, I know you wouldn't hurt anyone and I know you didn't mean anything." Danni said rubbing the redhead's shoulder, "I promise if you stick with me I will do my best to help you and keep you from having to resort to that. Just be prepared if it does come to it though, everyone out here has to at one time or another."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Will sighed, as a part of her was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. It was hard not to have ay least some doubts, after all if things went the way they did back in Heatherfield then these two women were only being nice because they wanted or needed something from the redhead. Will tried to take it at face value, and she did, but after eating a part of her own meal and the conversation they were having, some doubts were starting to rear up. "I don't even really know either of you, yet you are being so kind and helpful. I really appreciate it all, don't get me wrong, but why?"

"I'm helping you because I want to, Red. Honestly, you remind me so much of myself when I first found myself here and Jessie found me and took me under her wing. I don't know what exactly happened, but if it is what I think then I know it's hard right now so I won't push you into telling me anything. Just know that when you are ready to talk, when you are ready to have a shoulder to lean on, both Jessie and myself are here for you. I saw you leaving Betty's clinic so I know for a fact she would be there for you to."

"Thanks." Will said, for the first time since being attacked by Matt the redhead was starting to feel a spark of hope despite the position she found herself in. She knew whatever the future held, the immediate future was going to be hard. Despite knowing that, she felt that she would be able to make it with people like Danni, Jessie and Betty. Even Rachel, despite how the woman seemed at first, seemed like she was genuinely concerned and willing to help.

As Will looked around herself she thought about the offer of a safe place with Betty. Despite Betty wanting to give her a place to stay, Will didn't think she could accept it. It wouldn't be right, what happened to the redhead wasn't the doctor's responsibility, her own mother should have helped and comforted her. On top of that, she was also worried that there could be a chance that Will ended up facing children services anyways, and she didn't want that as they would just send her home. Now Will was out here on the street, and while at first she wasn't sure what to do, now she had some inkling that things would be okay. If Danni could make it here and offered to show Will how, the redhead was determined to make it herself. She would do her best to prove to everyone, most importantly to herself, that she was strong.

**LINE CHANGE**

In retrospect, Irma should have known something was seriously wrong with the way her morning was going. For once the little monster that was her half brother had managed not to get under her skin even a little, as far as being kind of...nice. Of course it more likely had to do with him probably sucking up to their dad and his mom so he could go to a party his friend was having over the weekend including a sleep over with promises of plenty of movies, pizza and popcorn. Hell, after the last few months Irma wanted to go to the party herself. If only it wasn't just for the dweebs.

She idly tossed the idea of idea of maybe getting the girls to have their own sleep over, maybe help fix the rift that was starting to form. Shooting a half disgusted look toward the blonde walking beside her, Irma felt a little anger rise up inside of her. Despite the twos constant arguing, the two really did love each other very much like sisters. Looking at Cornelia's relationship with her blood sister, Irma had to agree that the relationship she shared with the blonde did seem a lot like Cornelia and Lillian's own.

Currently their powers had been on the fritz, like the warranty was about ready to run out on them. At first it was little by little and no one paid much head to it, but when the heart started to fail in transforming the girls into their guardian forms, it was obvious something was wrong. They group tried to fold to Candracar though each attempt failed, even when they tested opening a fold to Meridian. Then their power pretty much left them completely, including their supposed eternal gifts that connected them to their elements. It was a cause for worry as no one, not even Yan Lin had any idea what could be causing it.

It didn't take too long for theories to start flying around by the girls, most innocent except for a few by the group's blonde. It made Irma half wonder if the girl truly was a blonde or if she used too much bleach hat caused too many brain cells to die. Cornelia had actually came out and accused Will of doing something to either break the heart or piss off Candracar in such a way that they washed their hands of the girls. While no one believed the later, the former accusation did leave the girls thinking. They had asked Will if something did happen, if there was some kind of accident or something. The look on the redhead's face before storming out on that particular group meeting made most of the girls regret even thinking it.

It was too late though, the damage was done and the rift in the group started. They tried several times to meet and maybe make amends, but something always seemed to happen that kept it from happening. Most of the time it was because of Hay Lin having to work, Irma having to babysit Chris, or Cornelia having to babysit Lillian. Today was yet another meeting that didn't go so well as Will never showed up which was why the quintet of girls were walking to Will's house to see what was up since she didn't call nor was she picking up her cell phone. They briefly debated calling the home phone or Susan, but none of the girls felt comfortable talking to the woman as they felt regret for allowing this split to form in the first place or their anger at the way Susan seemed to brush off her daughter one to many times in favor of the History teacher. All the girls could see how much it bothered their redheaded friend and felt bad for her, too bad that little fact didn't keep the blonde's mouth shut.

"Hey girls." Matt greeted as he joined the group of girls causing them to stop for a few minutes to talk. "Have you seen Will this morning?"

"She was supposed to meet us, but she never showed up." Hay Lin said, her tone a little subdued.

"We're heading over there now, want to come?" Irma offered as she looked closer at Matt. Something all of a sudden caused her to shudder, there was something wrong here, something very, very wrong.

"Damn, I need to find that bitch." Matt snarled to himself, though the others heard it, if barely.

"What the hell, Matt?" Irma asked angrily. How dare he talk about Will like this.

"You know, I bet you would appreciate a real man more than that red-haired whore, babe." Matt said while leering openly at Irma. "I bet you wouldn't scream for your friends or mommy to save you either."

"What the hell's gotten into you, Matt?" Irma asked as she shoved the boy away after he got too close. She was about to say more when the screech of car tires shocked the group. Looking up at the shrill noise they found a police cruiser skidding to a stop next to the group when her dad jumped out of the driver's seat and hurried over to the group. "Dad?"

"You son of a bitch." Tom growled as he grabbed Matt and roughly shoved him over the car's trunk while yanking his arm's behind his back before roughly snapping a pair of handcuffs on him. He started patting the boy down as he rambled off the Miranda rights.

"And what am I being charged with?" Matt demanded as he struggled against the trunk of the car. Irma knew that if Matt wanted he could use his powers as a regent and easily break free, but thankfully he didn't.

"Sexual assault, assault and battery, and possible kidnapping...You better pray that we find her or I'll make sure you really suffer." Tom snarled as he pressed the boys head angrily into the cold metal of the car. "Do you know where she is?"

"If I did, do you think I'd be here?" Matt demanded.

"Dad, what's going on?' Irma asked softly, afraid of the answer as the girls stood there staring in disbelief.

"Did he hurt you girls?" Tom asked gruffly while yanking the teen boy off the car and dragged him toward the back door.

"No, what happened dad?" Irma asked again, fear filing her. Did Matt really hurt Will, could he actually attack her like that? This had to be some kind of misunderstanding.

"Tell me, Irma, do you hate me?" Matt asked while sneering at now shaking girl as he was shoved into the back of the car. He sounded like Shagon just then, and not their friendly neighborhood Shagon either. Matt sounded like the evil bastard he was when he was under Nerissa's control.

"Irma, I can't get into it right now. If you see Will though make her stay put and call me or her mom." Tom ordered, worry and sadness filling his eyes as he looked onto his daughter.

"Mr. Lair, did Matt hurt Will?" Taranee asked, all of them afraid of the truth. The look on the man's face was answer enough as he moved to the driver's door.

"I...I can't answer you now, just stay away from him for now girls. And make sure you call if you see Will, it's really important." Tom said before climbing in and driving away from the distraught group. No one knew what exactly happened, but they heard enough to piece together what must have happened. It was hard to believe, they knew how much Matt cared for Will so what would drive him to do anything to hurt their red haired friend.

"Do...do you think Will is okay?" Cornelia choked out, crying freely as she hugged herself. The girls looked at her sadly as they knew she was mentally beating herself up for starting the trouble with the redhead. Irma could almost see the blonde's thoughts as Cornelia was most likely blaming herself, then again, so was Irma.

**LINE CHANGE**

Dinner was much more enjoyable than Danni made it out to be, though Will was to the point that any hot food would have tasted pretty good. She had never went so long without anything to eat in her life, even during the roughest times for the mother daughter duo after Tony left them nearly broke. She always had a couple meals a day, even if she was dieting as she had healthy snacks to help tide her over. She had went nearly, if not longer than twenty four hours since her last real meal and she was thankful to finally be able to get something in her stomach.

The thought that while she hated going a day without food was bad enough, but she knew that there were so many people out there who went so much longer without good food, or any kind of food for that matter, really bothered the redhead. She silently swore as Danni showed her around the area pointing out different places of interest, she promised that if she ever fell into a position to help these people she would do all she could to help them. She may have only been out there for a day, but after meeting Jessie and now Danni, Will was sure there were other people out there like them that deserved a better hand than the cards fate dealt them with.

Thanks to Danni's explanations and warnings on the duo's little tour, Will had a clearer image of what kind of life awaited her out here as well as what places to avoid in the future. She knew what places to avoid as either gangs, drug sellers or prostitutes hung out there which the later wasn't as much of a concern, but some of the people they attracted could be very bad news. The prostitutes themselves, for the most part, wouldn't hurt anyone normally and were more or less friendly unless it was the occasional drug addicted one. They didn't always know exactly what they were doing depending on the drug and that made it best to stay away from them to be safe.

The gangs were the most worrisome of the groups as Danni hadn't sugarcoated anything and made sure Will understood just what they were capable of. The gangs more than likely would leave her alone unless she pissed them off somehow, and according to Danni that was much easier than expected. They could attack her over any perceived slight from the wrong clothes or even just a look they didn't like. They could chose any number of ways to show their displeasure from just shoving her around to killing her, and anywhere in between. It was the anywhere in between that bothered Will the most when the redhead realized what the blonde meant by it. She never wanted to suffer through that ever again.

The drug dealers was a mixed bunch as they ranged from people just trying to make a little money to feed their children to ones that tied in with gangs. While neither Danni or Will liked what they did, the redhead had to agree with the blonde's assessment that they were trying to take care of their families in any way they could. It was the gang members that Danni warned her to avoid as they could be just as bad as any other gang member, and sometimes even worse when they sampled their own products. They were also more apt to just shoot you if they thought you threatened their business in anyway.

There were also a lot of good people that Danni promised to introduce Will to as time went on. Many people on the streets were very friendly and helpful to each other, as Danni said they treat each other like a family. Sadly it wasn't so for everyone on the street though as there were those people who just wanted to be left alone and would never raise a finger to help each other. They were nice people still to an extent, though they wanted to be left alone as much as possible.

The sun was beginning to set now bringing the redhead to a crossroads now as she realized she had to make a choice now. She had to either go home, go back to the clinic, or stay with Danni. The first option was pretty much no real option for her as there was no way she would go back to the hell that her life was becoming back there. The second option was very tempting to the teen as she wouldn't have to worry so much about being on the streets alone, though when she thought about it she realized she wasn't alone. She also had to worry about children services getting involved and sending her right back from where she ran from. The final option was a pretty good one in her mind as Danni seemed really nice and genuine in her wants to take Will under her wing. There was just something about the blonde that Will felt she could trust and she really needed someone to believe in right now.

"So Red, are you sticking around?" Danni asked softly, a little hope shining in the blonde's eyes. The look in those eyes drew Will into them, seeing someone who cared for the redhead despite only knowing each other for a day. Maybe they could become like sisters, after all that was something Will always wished she had.

"Yeah...yeah, I think I am." Will said giving the blonde a sad smile, a small smile returned by the blonde as Danni grabbed the redhead's hand.

"Then let's go home." Danni said with a smile before leading Will through the darkening alleys confusing the red haired girl a bit.

"Home?" Will asked, blinking a little, wincing in pain a bit as she was pulled along. A grin was the only answer the redhead received until a few minutes later the two arrived at a rundown, boarded up gas station. The pumps were all removed while large pieces of wood covered the door and windows keeping people out of it. Danni led Will around the back where the blonde pushed a piece of wood out of the way and stepped inside while motioning for the redhead to follow.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Danni said as she stood in the middle of the small store front that once served as the small gas station's storefront, if the small space could be called that. It must have been one of those smaller gas stations that you walked up to the window to pay or a full service station as there was no room for aisles of shelving that would hold various goods to sit. There was a counter, dusty as it was and a blanket in a corner of the small room.

"So, what do we do for entertainment in here?" Will asked while trying to sound cheerful as her eyes adjusted even more to the dimly lit room.

"We sleep. We don't have much light in here as it is and we need to be up early to go to breakfast." Danni sighed as she walked over to the blanket, kicking her shoes off as she went. She was about to lay down when Will dropped her bag and dug in her pocket for the bottle of pills Betty had given her. She didn't have any water which meant having to take them dry, something she hated to do though she didn't have a choice. "What's that noise?"

"Some stuff the doctor at the clinic gave me." Will said as she popped an antibiotic in her mouth and swallowed it before looking at the other bottle debating.

"Whatever you do, do NOT flash those in public if they are what I think." Danni warned, her voice becoming a little harder than it had been most of the day, "And don't treat them like candy or you will get hooked on them."

"I didn't plan to, I don't even want them but the pain keeps coming and going and it hurts." Will sighed as she looked at the bottle of the pain killers before shoving them back in her pocket and dropped down to the dirty floor as she didn't see anywhere else to lay.

"I'm sorry." Danni sighed as she sat down on her own blanket watching Will turn away and stare at the wall. "I didn't mean to come off like that, I just...I've seen good people get hooked on the stuff and I don't want you to. I also don't want you flashing that out there where people who want it might take it from you...by force."

"It's fine." Will sighed again. She understood that, but it did hurt her briefly when she thought the blonde was mad at her. She was relieved to learn that everything seemed fine between the two. She shuddered a bit though as she realized how cool the air seemed in there. She almost jumped up when she felt a body slide up against hers and a blanket pull over her.

"Shhh...its only me and I won't hurt you." Danni whispered as she draped an arm over Will, their bodies spooning under the blanket. "I only have one blanket and it does get cool in here some nights, so we will have to share."

It took several moments for Will to calm down as she took deep shuddering breaths. She realized that Danni was just another girl and wouldn't hurt her, in fact she felt safer than she had in awhile in the loose embrace of the girl holding her. "Thank you."

"It's no big Red, now get some sleep." Danni said softly.

"Good night, Danni, thank you for everything." Will said, a small smile gracing her lips as she snuggled into the other girl's light embrace.

"Night Red." Danni whispered back before the two drifted off to their own thoughts before sleep finally claimed the duo of girls.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **September 17, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

It's getting closer to getting caught up to all the chapters that I have typed up, but I'm working on getting more done as quick as I can. I have a lot of things going on in my life though including school and my BF, and with me having to maintain high marks or no BF and no internet, it may take more time between releases, but I will do my best.

LINE CHANGE

A week, it was hard to believe that she had been out on the street for a whole week now and yet it was nowhere near as bad as Will would have thought it would be. It wasn't anywhere like the rumors and accusations that was thrown around back in Heatherfield made it out to be. So far Will had made two great friends in Danni and Jessie, both of whom have been very supportive of the redhead over the whole ordeal even when the runaway teen found her foot in mouth. This whole ordeal had been a total shock, it was so the drama, but it was made bearable by the other two ladies. They were becoming very good friends, almost like family, at least better than what she had back home when she left. So far they haven't put her down once or treated her different from them, they treated her as one of them.

They had just finished breakfast which consisted of bagels, cream cheese and coffee for the two and water for Will. The redhead kind of wished they had some orange juice or something, but it was better than nothing and it was free. Something Will learned over the last week was that while some of the food wasn't exactly something she would pick for herself or wasn't always the best tasting. Despite this, it was a meal and something to fill their stomachs and keep them from having to go 'dumpster diving' as Danni called it. Mornings was always breakfast at the same church, then Monday, Wednesday and Fridays was a late lunch at the community center while Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as random days when funds allowed dinner was held at the church they ate at the first day Will was with them. Finally, weekends dinner was held at another church with Sundays accompanied by church service after the meal.

So far Will was handling things pretty well though she hadn't made it back to the clinic which she had mixed feelings over. She was grateful for their offer and their help while she was scared to take them up. She was too scared of being sent home where she would have to confront not only Matt, but her friends and mother as well. She wasn't sure if she ever wanted to see them again.

"Hey Red, what do you want to do?" Danni asked as the made their way through the park, the two stepping over roots of the trees as they made their way through the hiking trails heading toward the other side of the town. "We could go to the library and read some until we get kicked out."

"Kicked out?" Will asked, wondering why they would get kicked out. She was actually kind of shocked to, Will knew the blonde was intelligent and despite her rough exterior, Danni was really nice. It was a little shocking that the blonde would enjoy spending time at the library.

"Yeah, most of the people there is pretty cool. There is this one stuck up bitch that will throw us out without a second thought if she catches us." Danni said, her eyes flashing pain for a few moments before it was gone to be replaced by a hard look. "She knows I'm homeless and she takes a little too much pleasure in treating me like shit because of it."

"Maybe we should just do something else." Will suggested, not really wanting to cause any trouble. She was a little upset that anyone could treat the blonde like that, but Will knew that there were a lot of people who was very prejudiced to homeless people. Will knew more than her fair share of them, hell she was borderline prejudice herself if she would allow herself to admit it.

"We could just relax by the great oak, maybe talk a bit." Danni suggested while giving Will a strange look. After a few moments Will knew what the blonde wanted, she wanted to learn more about Will. The redhead wasn't sure if she was ready to tell the truth to the blonde even if she did deserve it after everything Danni had done for the redhead.

"Well, that could be nice." Will said admitting that it would be. She was still a bit sore since not of her injuries healed up all the way yet. It would be nice to just sit down and relax, talk to the blonde some more. It wasn't like she hadn't been talking with the girl, but between taken to eat at the various places and being showed around and introduced to new people, the two didn't have much of a chance to sit and talk during the day. Well, night didn't count as the blonde had been comforting Will almost nightly as the redhead discovered her new fear of the dark as well as the night terrors.

"Well, let's go this way then." Danni said pulling the redhead by her hand through some trees and farther through the forested area until they reached a small clearing with a huge oak tree growing in the middle. It had to be the biggest tree that Will had ever seen in her entire life, the base of the trunk had to be just about as thick as she was tall. "I love sitting here to just relax and think."

"Wow, it's beautiful." Will breathed as Danni let go of her hand to go drop down to the ground underneath the tree. her back leaning back against the massive trunk underneath the large amount of shade that the tree's foliage provided. A moment later Will joined her, sitting down next to the blonde, their shoulders almost touching, as they both just sat there staring off into space a few moments.

"Your first full week on the streets, huh Red?" Danni asked breaking Will out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, and I still can't believe I survived it. Thank you so much for everything, Danni." Will said, real gratitude clear in her voice. She was thankful for everything the girl had shown her, everything that she did for her such as sharing the blondes home and blanket during the nights and making sure Will had food to keep the redhead from going hungry.

"Hey, don't think me, if I didn't help you Jess would have kicked my ass." Danni said, amusement tinting her words and a small smirk on her lips showing she was kidding. She took Will's hand and squeezed it, holding her hand. "When we met Red, you reminded me a lot of myself when I first ended up here."

"Danni, I think I know a little of what happened to you to make you come here, but...never mind, I don't want to pry." Will said, breaking off near the end of her question when she realized that it must have been painful for the normally cheerful yet sarcastic girl.

"No, it's okay Red. I don't mind telling you, you've grown on me ginger." Danni said as she turned to look at Will only to notice the confusion on the girl's face making the blonde laugh a little.

"What do you mean, ginger?" Will asked confused by the blonde calling her that.

"Ginger...it's what some people call redheads. Most of the time it's, well it's meant to be man to them. Don't tell me you never heard it." Danni explained, feeling a little bad for it seeing the way the hurt briefly flashed through the girl's eyes. "I didn't mean it like that, I would never call you something to hurt you. I promise I would never do anything to hurt you."

"You mean it?" Will asked, looking deep into the blonde's eyes searching for any trace of deception or dishonesty there. She was a little surprised when the blonde cupped her cheek and leaned over to kiss the redhead's forehead before pulling back.

"I promise Red, now we better get comfortable because this could be a somewhat long story." Danni said as she leaned back, her head resting against the trunk as she closed her eyes. After taking a few deep calming breaths as she settled her thoughts, the blonde girl continued. "You would never believe it, but my family, my grandfather anyways, is one of the wealthiest men in the world."

"Why come out here then?" Will asked before her mind caught up with her mouth. All the money in the world wasn't worth the pain the few hints the blonde gave away about her past.

"Because I'm a disappointment to my family, they all hate me." Danni sighed, holding up her hand to stall anything Will was about to say. "I know I am, Red, and I accept it. I know when I tell you the reason why, you will probably hate me to."

"I would never hate you, you've done so much for me." Will said, trying to say more but a finger on her lips shushed her from saying another word.

"Red, I'm a lesbian, I like girls." Danni said, the admission making the redhead's eyes go wide in understanding after a few seconds as well as shock being clearly written across the girl's face.

"So...you are still you, you're still Danni, right?" Will asked, nervousness in her every gesture making Danni sigh sadly knowing that after this the redhead would probably abandon her like most.

"Try telling that to my family." Danni huffed while trying to ignore the pain in her heart caused from the redhead's body language. "My mom, my dad always told me she left because of me. He would tell me that she knew there was something wrong with me, but my grandpa would always come along and hold me and tell me that she loved me very much. That she didn't have a choice in being able to be with me." Danni closed her eyes tightly while trying to block out some of the images running through her head, some more real than others in her head though they all were true. It was just some were still more vivid than the others and sadly it was the most painful memories that were still the most vivid. "When I came out, when I told them it didn't take long for my dad to take me away from my grandpa. My grandpa, my dad told me what he said. My grandpa didn't want his companies reputation soiled by a filthy dyke. He told me that my grandpa didn't want anything to do with either of us and my dad beat me because of it."

"I'm so sorry, Danni." Will said taking the blonde's hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

"My dad, he said he was straightening me out, he...he raped me Red. Every time he would get drunk he would rape me. Every time he got a little upset he would beat me. I tried calling my grandpa, but his girlfriend told me he didn't want anything to do with a dyke. I didn't have anywhere to go, Red, no one to turn to. We may have been cut off from my grandpa and his money, but my dad was still a huge public figure so I had no one who would believe me. I couldn't take it any longer and ran away and that's when I met Jessie. She did for me what I'm trying my best to do for you." Danni blinked away the tears as she turned her head to look into the redhead's eyes to find sympathetic ones staring back.

"I...I don't know what to say, Danni." Will said softly as she reached out and pulled the blonde into a hug, rubbing the somewhat taller girl's back.

"You don't hate me?" Danni asked, her voice a little strained as she fought the urge to break down and cry.

"You did nothing for me to hate you over, Danni." Will sighed sadly, "I...I do want to know though, why did you help me. Did you help me because I'm a girl or because you were trying to repay what Jessie did for you?"

"Honestly...A little of both, Red. I'll tell you right now, I have a thing for redhead's and when I first saw you I saw this sexy, gorgeous goddess and I couldn't help praying that maybe, just maybe she would be mine. Then I saw your eyes and your bruises and my heart dropped, as much as I wanted to flirt with you and get to know you better that way, I just couldn't. You didn't need that, you needed someone who could show you the ropes. You needed someone who would help you for the sake of helping you, someone who would protect you from the people who would use you then throw you away." Danni said softly, afraid that the redhead was going to push her away now that she knew. "Red, I'm very attracted to you, but I know what you are going through and you don't need someone trying to get with you. You need time to recover, to get over what happened to you."

"Will." Will said softly.

"I know you will, if you will still let me I want to help you." Danni said into Will's shirt as her head was cradled at the crook of the redhead's neck just under her chin.

"No," Will said softly, the word shattering the blonde's hear for a moment until the redhead continued. "That's my name, Will. Well, Wilhelmina, but everyone just called me Will...but I kind of like Red now."

"So you aren't disgusted by me?" Danni asked softly. This was the first time in so long that she felt so vulnerable.

"Of course not." Will said running her fingers through the blonde locks. "I'm not too sure what to think of the whole lesbian thing, I've always heard about it. I've never meant one before, and I'm not too sure how I feel myself anymore. I want us to stay together and be friends, Danni, but I don't think we could ever be more than that."

"Hey, I'm good with friends." Danni said while sitting up and giving the redhead a bit of a sad, if relieved smile. She could handle it if the redhead never wanted to be more, she wasn't helping Will to get in her pants. True she was attracted to the beautiful girl, but that didn't mean they had to be lovers. If it came down to the choice of friends or nothing, Danni was very willing to let them remain just friends. Ever since the redhead came into the blonde's life, Danni had felt more whole than she had in a long time and she didn't want to give that up.

It had been one of the most trying times in the old man's life as the week slowly dragged on with no sign of a certain redhead. Police was searching everywhere for the girl and some people was beginning to think that she wasn't going to be found, that she was possibly dead. Matt was out on bail and refused to even speak to Herbert, much like the boys parents. Of course the old man understood why they were upset, but what would they feel like if this was the newest addition of their family that was hurt in this way and missing? Wouldn't they want the person behind it to face the consequences? It broke the old man's heart, but he knew Matt had to own up to what he did. Herbert didn't hate the boy though he was highly disappointed in him.

Leaning back in the chair at the counter of his currently closed pet store, Herbert took a long swig of the bottle of Jack Daniels he had been nursing. Today had been a particularly bad day as the entire morning was spent yet again at the police station answering questions and being forced to watch that damnable video yet again. He knew what happened on it, he heard the girl's cries every night in his dreams, his nightmares, but they made him watch it again to officially recognize it was the one he provided and explain where it came from. Matt was being charged with several violent crimes which would force him to be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life if he was found guilty.

Hearing the door open and close forced him to curse himself for not locking it. He already had a feeling as to who it was which annoyed him even more, even if he reluctantly admitted he kind of enjoyed the woman's company. If only she would leave him to his self destructive ways like he wanted, then everything would be great. She wouldn't though, he knew that, which in a way touched him as she really seemed to care about him and about the girl they both saw as a granddaughter.

"That stuff will rot your brain, you know." The woman said, her oriental accent a little thick and her voice soft and sad with a false cheer to it. How could anyone be truly cheerful after what happened after all? Susan was a complete mess herself and who could blame her.

"Don't forget my liver to." Herbert said sarcastically holding the bottle up in what could almost be seen as a toasting gesture. Giving the older woman a glare when she grabbed the bottle from his hands, "Yan Lin, give that back woman!"

"Not on your life." Yan Lin smirked before throwing back her head and downing the entire remaining liquid in one go, choking a bit as the liquor burned going down a bit. "I came to check up on you."

"That's nice." Herbert grinned as he reached under the counter and pulled out another bottle of liquor and began opening it.

"How many of these do you have?" Yan Lin asked, her eye twitching as she watched the elder man finally open the glass bottle and take a long, hard swig of the amber contents.

"More than you can drink." Herbert said with a lopsided grin.

"Is that a challenge?" Yan Lin asked, "This woman can drink you under the table, old man."

"Bring it, old woman." Herbert said waving at a chair next to him.

"Oh, it's brought." Yan Lin said dropping into the chair as Herbert pulled out two glasses from under the counter instead of them having to drink from the bottles.

"I thought you said this would rot your brain?" Herbert asked as he poured the two a generous amount each before setting the bottle down and handing Yan Lin a glass of the alcoholic beverage.

"After this week, I need to kill a few brain cells. Maybe it will dull the pain..." Yan Lin sighed as she took a sip from her glass, savoring the strong and bitter taste. "Besides, Granny can hold her liquor better than you...*burp...Excuse me."

"Don't we all." Herbert sighed, "Don't we all. And by the way, you are not excused."

"She's okay, Herb." Yan Lin said taking the man's hand that was holding his glass of liquor, trying to comfort the distraught male. "She's okay and she will come home to us, I know it."

"I just miss her so much and I hate to even think what she could be going through, all the pain she must be feeling. I love her, Lin. She's like a granddaughter to me and to think Matt could hurt her like that...How could he do that to her."

"Herb...Matt is basically an adult, he made his own choices." Yan Lin sighed as the old man tried to pull his hand away though Yan Lin wouldn't let him as she looked into his eyes.

"I feel like I failed both of them, failed to teach Matt better than this and I failed to protect Will when she needed it the most." Herbert sighed, shaking a bit as his eyes misted.

"Herbert, it was Matt's choice and Matt's alone. You are not at fault here so don't blame yourself." Yan Lin assured him. "I had a friend a long time ago, a friend that did something horrible."

"What happened?" Herbert asked, a little confused on what this had to do with anything. Yan Lin wouldn't let go of his hand, her thumb gently and lovingly rubbing circles on the back of it.

"There were actually five of us, all of us as close as sisters. Some poor choices were made and my friend ended up killing one of my other friends. I...I blamed myself for the longest time, maybe a part of me still does, but I didn't tell her to do it. Herb, I didn't force her to kill Cassidy and you didn't force matt to hurt Will." Yan Lin sighed pulling her hands away, making Herbert's feel lighter as he dropped his hand that she was holding while looking deep in her eyes. There was a deep sadness and pain there, but also understanding. He supposed that in a way the situations did have a lot in common. Still, he was the boy's grandfather and should have done something more to prevent this from happening.

"Yan Lin...that's mine." Herbert said, glaring at the extra glass of amber liquid in the woman's hands as she smirked at him. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at the woman's grin. He knew she was just playing with him, trying to cheer him up and get him out of his depression. Of course she couldn't really, but her presence did help an awful lot.

"And your point being?" Yan Lin asked before quickly downing every drop of alcohol before slamming the glass down on the counter letting out a sigh. "Damn...got anymore of that? Granny likes that."

Herbert did the only thing he could to respond to that question, he laughed harder before pouring both glasses full again and taking back his own glass. He had to wonder if maybe Yan Lin was flirting with him in some strange way or just trying to comfort him. Either way, he was grateful for her presence as she seemed to be able to lift his spirits, if only by a fraction.

Their evening meal wasn't the best that they shared by far, but it was filling and the redhead had to admit nutritious. Sometimes making sure that you had a filling yet healthy meal you had to sacrifice taste, especially when the meal was made by donations which sometimes made it hard to feed everyone that showed up. Will wasn't picky though, she had learned over the last week that she couldn't be if she wanted to survive. She had a bad feeling that she was going to learn sooner or later that things wouldn't always be this easy, but she didn't want to think about that.

Danni and her didn't talk much after leaving the park, both girls having a lot on their minds and both knew it. They did talk some, letting each other know that they were there for the other, but their discussion in the park brought up a lot of bad memories for both. For Danni, memories from an unwanted past kept returning no matter how much she tried to block them out. She knew she wasn't over everything that had happened to her, she accepted that she never would be, but she thought she had a better hold on everything.

For Will, her experiences were still very fresh in her mind as pretty much every night she had nightmares that forced her to relive everything over and over again. It was the blonde that helped Will keep her sanity as Danni comforted the redhead every time she woke up screaming. Every night the two slept curled up together, most of the time spooning as they shared the only blanket that they had as well as body heat. Will felt so comfortable and safe in the blondes arms, but now...

Just how was she supposed to feel? Danni was an admitted lesbian, the blonde admitted to being attracted to Will. She could end up hurting Will in almost the same way as Matt had as the redhead slept in the other girl's arms. Danni hadn't made any inappropriate moves though, the blonde did nothing except help Will and show the redhead how to survive. The blonde did nothing except show respect and caring to Will though so why was she growing so...so confused?

She was confused she had to admit, and she wasn't sure if the blonde's admitted attractedness to her was the cause of it or if it was her more or less admitting that she didn't mind. If she didn't mind though, then why was she going over it again and again in her mind? What was worrying her? She knew that she felt safe in the blondes arms, felt loved and cared for, something she hadn't felt in so long. If the blonde made her feel so good, why was this situation bothering her so much? It was driving her crazy that she couldn't figure it out! Why the hell couldn't she pinpoint why the...cute...blonde...

"Red, what's wrong?" Danni asked, worry filling her eyes as she looked back from probably ten feet in front of the redhead. It took a few moments to realize Will had stopped walking when she realized where her thoughts were leading. She didn't think the blonde was cute, well she admitted she was beautiful, but there was nothing wrong with thinking another girl was good looking. Was that all it was? Was she just looking up to the girl as her guide, older sister, and possible role model for being out here?

"I'm okay." Will said with a nervous smile. She hurried to catch up to Danni as they turned down the alley heading toward their sanctuary.

"Red, if you aren't comfortable with what I told you, I won't be offended." Danni sighed as she turned away from Will only to have the redhead's hand slip into her own.

"I'm a little confused, Danni, but I'm not uncomfortable around you." Will said while giving her best smile as they made there way down the darkening alley. Danni turned back to face of the girl holding her hand, giving a sad smile as she was sure that the redhead was just trying to be supportive despite being disgusted at the truth of the blonde.

"Hey Blondie, want to make another fifty?" A males voice asked from behind the two making Danni freeze up. She was praying that it wasn't who she thought it was, it was bad enough that Will knew that she was lesbian, she didn't want the redhead to know that she was a whore to. Despite only doing it that one time, that one desperate time, she still knew she did it and she hated herself for doing it.

"Go away." Danny said as she turned to look as the pale, slightly overweight man with greasy dark hair, thick glasses and wearing a wrinkled suit with the tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"Hey, don't be that way sweetums." The man said giving a sick looking smile as the blonde started shaking. "Hell, I'll even pay fifty bucks for your friend also, she's pretty cute."

"Don't you dare touch her." Danni snarled as she stood protectively in front of a confused Will.

"What's going on, Danni?" Will asked as a little bit of fear started to fill her. She wasn't sure if it was fear of what the answer of what was going on or if it was fear of what this man wanted, but either way she didn't like it.

"Come on, you know you want this." The man said pulling a wallet out of his pants and pulling out several bills and waving it Danni. "You are one of the best whores that I've had and I've been looking for you. How would you two want to be come my regulars."

"Go to hell." Danni snarled, her glare intensifying at the greasy haired man. "That was a one time deal and you know it."

"It doesn't have to be." The man said as he grabbed Danni by the elbow and dragged her forward. Will didn't care what happened, but she wasn't going to let this man hurt Danni. Yanking out the heart, Will prepared to try and use it's powers to fight and if that didn't work, she would think of something.

"I think the lady said leave her alone." A gruff voice said from behind the man just before said man was yanked away from the girls and slammed into the side of the brick wall that was one of the buildings lining the alley. Will looked on as the man was pinned there staring at a somewhat short man with the weirdest hairdo and the most body hair that the redhead had even seen on a man. He almost seemed somewhat feral as he snarled at the man who was trying to pressure Danni into doing something Will knew she didn't want to do. Thankfully one of the men the two girls met the day before was standing there protecting them, or at least Will hoped that was what was going on.

"Hey, if you already paid her for the night then I'll just try again tomorrow." The greasy haired man said giving a sick smile before being pulled away from the wall to be slammed into it harder, hard enough to make him cry out in pain.

"Listen here you little bastard, if I catch you sniffing around here again I swear I will cut off your little pecker." The man growled out in anger, "Got it bub?"

"G-Got in." The man stammered before Logan released him before he was able to scramble away from the trio.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Logan asked as he looked over at Danni, all the anger draining out of his eyes to be replaced by concern.

"No, thank you Logan." Danni said, her voice a little rough as she started backing away from the burly man. "We have to go, thank you for helping Logan."

"Any time, kid. If you need anything just find me." Logan said as Danni pulled Will down the alley at a much faster pace than before.

"Danni, what that man was saying...did you?" Will asked, a lump forming in her throat. Danni had said she wasn't a prostitute before, she had even warned Will about trying to get into it as that life was hard to escape, especially if you got caught up with drugs. If the was she was acting after meeting that man though, did it mean that Danni had done it before, and if she did would it matter to Will? She wasn't sure, but for some reason she was dreading the answer.

"I-I'll tell you when we get inside." Danni said, her voice cracking as the arrived at their shelter. It only took a few moments for the two to slip in where Danni went to the far corner from the spot the two usually slept at and dropped down, pulling her knees to her chest. Will started o go over to her, but instead kicked her shoes off and sat down on the blanket to give Danni some space, to give both of them some space. Will was worried that what ever the blonde said, no matter if she admitted that she slept with that man or not, the redhead knew that everything was about to change.

"Danni..." Will said softly, her voice weak and almost seemed like a whisper.

"Don't Will, just please...Let me explain." Danni said, her voice full of sorrow making the redhead want to go to her. The blonde motioned for her to stay where she was though when Will started to get up again. "Red...Will, I've been on the streets for a little over a year now. Let me tell you right now that winter is going to be the harshest time of year. While some of the kitchens will still be open, meals will come a lot more farther apart than what you've seen. We might go days without seeing one of them open and on top of that, if last winter is any indication then the clinic may even have to close for some reason or another."

"Is that what happened? You slept with him to get money for food?" Will croaked out, fear filling her. She had feared that she may end up in a position that would force her to do that ever since running away, but she managed to keep it to the back of her mind until now. She didn't want to do that, a part of her didn't even think she ever wanted to see another guy after what Matt did to her. It seemed like he went out of his way to make her feel the most pain that he could.

"No...I would freely eat out of the trash before I do that..." Danni said, her voice hitching as Will could make out the blonde shaking a bit in the dim light of their home. "There was this woman, she ran away from an abusive husband and I let her and her daughter stay here to hide. Her daughter was only six years old...and she was so sick. She had a high fever and with the clinic closed and the woman scared of going to the hospital because her husband would find them...Red, she couldn't get any help anywhere...the kid needed help, needed medicine and there was no way..." Danni was openly crying now, her voice shaky as she buried her face into her knees muffling her voice a bit. Will didn't wait any longer, she climbed up and took the blanket with her and dropped next to the blonde while pulling the blanket around the two while the redhead pulled the taller girl into a hug. Danni tried to pull away for a few moments only to have the redhead's hold tighten, refusing to let go.

"I'm not letting you go, Danni." Will whispered as the blonde cried harder, a few tears of Will's own escaping as the redhead stroked the blond locks of hair.

"I'm a worthless whore, Will. I dirty...and have been long before that bastard came along." Danni said as her entire body shuddered. "It wasn't my first time, my dad...He...it didn't matter if I screwed some random stranger or not, that girl needed medicine and I did what I had to."

"You listen to me, Danni." Will said, her voice stronger than she felt. She idly wondered what happened to the strong blonde that had been protecting Will since her arrival, but she knew no matter how strong someone is, it didn't make them invulnerable. "You said I wasn't dirty, it wasn't my fault what happened to me. And I'm telling you it wasn't yours, you didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Will, I FUCKED a man for MONEY! How the hell was I forced to do that?" Danni cried, sobbing a couple of the words loudly making them almost seem like choked screams as the blonde pulled away some forcibly. "I'm a filthy, disgusting whore! No one will ever want anything to do with me, no one will ever love me!"

"Don't you ever say that again!" Will snapped before grabbing Danni and yanking her forward to crush her lips against the blonde's in a heated, somewhat angry kiss. After a few seconds her mind caught up with what she was doing, but she didn't stop as Danni deepened it. Will knew she should feel disgusted by this, or at least not be enjoying it. The problem was, she was enjoying it and it wasn't because she was kissing a girl. It was because she was kissing Danni. The two finally separated to catch their breath as they stared at each other in the dim light. "Please, don't ever say that again..."

"Will...Red...what the hell was that?" Danni asked, looking at the blushing redhead. Confusion filled the blonde as she stared for any kind of mockery or disgust in the redhead's eyes.

"You are worth being loved and you will find someone." Will said softly, she wasn't too sure what to say. She didn't regret the kiss, but she wasn't sure what she could be to the blonde. Did she love the blonde, at least in that way? She wasn't entirely sure, she only knew her for a week and before now she really never liked another girl. She couldn't lie to Danni and tell her that she was deeply, madly in love with her and lead her on. It wouldn't be right.

"By you?" Danni asked timidly. Gone was the rough, sarcastic and sometimes rude girl and in her place was a shy, timid blonde making Will wonder just how much the tough attitude was just an act for the outside world.

"Danni...I care for you, a lot." Will sighed as she pulled the blonde back into her arms and held on as they sat curled up there together, snuggling. "I'm just not sure...I don't know if I do...if I can love you in that way. Honestly, I'm not sure how it would even work, how two girls can even be together..."

"By taking things one day at a time." The blonde sighed, though she stopped crying and struggling letting the redhead cradle her in her arms. "Just like any other couple."

The redhead sighed as she held the taller girl, her thoughts running a mile a minute. She was a little worried about Danni now that she realized the girl must hide a lot of pain behind a mask. The blonde wants so much for someone to care for her and as much as Will wanted to tell the girl she did, she wasn't sure if she could. She couldn't lie to the blonde and lead her on, it would just be too cruel to both of them. Will wasn't even sure how she felt, the pain that Matt caused her, the pain from her family and friends was all still too fresh and if the redhead was honest with herself, she was terrified because of it. She was terrified of the pain that they caused her being repeated all over again if she did get too close to anyone ever again. The whole problem was that despite how much she told herself otherwise, it was all ready too late because the blonde already wormed herself deep in Will's heart. Just what the hell was she supposed to do?


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **September 22, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Thank you everyone who has reviewed so far, I'm glad you like it so far if you do. Let me know what you think of the rewrite so far everyone. Better? Worse? So-so? And don't worry about new chapters after where I left off at on my old account, I think there is three more chapters at most before getting to that point, but it is coming.

LINE CHANGE

Irma was angry at the moment, hell she was beyond angry after her father broke the news of what happened just that morning. The district judge released Matt on bail until his court date provided he didn't cause any trouble. How could they let that bastard out on bail after what he did to Will? At the moment she didn't care about what concussion the girls came up with for the boys actions. It didn't matter if it was Shagon or Matt that raped Will seeing that ever since Lillian had been more or less tricked into making the boy a regent of earth, it meant that the two were one and the same. Matt was Shagon and Shagon was Matt. Irma refused to believe that anything else at the moment due to how royally pissed off she was.

Right now she was trying to figure out what to do as she headed to the Silver Dragon. Apparently Candracar had finally bothered sending a message to Yan Lin and the girls were all going to meet up at the Silver Dragon. She was half way afraid to know what they had to say since, did they find Will and was she okay...was she alive? So many questions surrounded the whole situation and no answers were forthcoming. And if those questions weren't enough, there was the questions surrounding their powers. For the last two weeks they had finally disappeared completely. Not one of the girls had been able to do anything like they were once able to do.

There was just too much happening at once, and it was all affecting their friendship. Of course she didn't want to think of that, but it came unbidden into her mind as she knew it was true. She knew she should be worried about Will more, and she truly was, but the once close group of friends were drifting further and further apart. Tensions had at least tripled since before Will even disappeared as they all blamed themselves for what happened with Will, if it was consciously or subconsciously. Some of them showed their worry more than other as well as Cornelia and Hay Lin seemed to be taking it the worst out of all of them. Cornelia was blaming herself for everything despite what anyone said, and it didn't help that Hay Lin was growing a bit of a mean streak agreeing with the blonde and even throwing in her own accusations.

Things were plainly going to hell, and if they didn't find Will soon, there probably wouldn't be any going back. They needed to know that she was ok and let her know that the loved her. They needed her back in their lives, needed her presence to put the falling apart group back together. Of course, the group was close before the redhead and Taranee came into their lives, but since the two girls came the five have been like a family. And know their family was being destroyed, and a large part of that reason was the girls themselves. Though Irma wouldn't admit it, she knew Cornelia was a big part of the current predicament, but the others didn't have to follow her lead even if it was to a much lesser degree.

"Hey Irma." A very familiar voice called making the girl shiver a bit in fear and disgust. Without her powers there was no way to really defend herself from Matt, much less Shagon if it came to it. The question was, how the hell did he even get out of jail? Deciding to ignore the bastard, Irma decided to speed up hoping to get to the Silver Dragon before anything happened. It wasn't to be though as he hurried up behind her and grabbed her elbow while spinning around to face him.

"Hey, why are you ignoring me, Irma?" Matt demanded, growling angrily as he squeezed making Irma yelp out in pain while trying to pull away.

"Let go of me you sick bastard!" Irma gasped as he shook her a bit.

"Why the hurtful words, Irma?" Matt said softly as his free hand cupped her cheek to force her to look into his eyes. "You sound as if you hate me."

"I do hate you." Irma snapped, gasping as she was forced to look into his eyes as they momentarily glowed a golden red color as he looked deep in her own while licking his lips. He began to lean forward, his lips just inches from Irma's own as he held her in place. Irma was frozen in place as she felt his breath making her whimper a bit as she saw images of him, of Shagon forcing her to do what he did to Will. Thinking of Will broke the spell as she quickly brought her knee up with all the strength she could muster to hit him right in the groin making him topple with a scream of rage. Irma kicked him several more times in the face and stomped on his chest before running off before he could recover.

Thankfully she made it to the Silver Dragon before Matt could do anything else

LINE CHANGE

It nearly been a month and a half, almost two months since Will ran away from Heatherfield and she was starting to get worried. She had seen several posters as well as a few advertisements through an electronics stores showing a reward for information on her whereabouts. The problem is she didn't want to be found despite missing her mother and even her friends very much. They had showed that they didn't want her though and after what Matt did to her, she was very weary of giving them another chance when she was sure things would just go back to the way they were.

At least here on the streets she had Danni, someone who had stuck with her through everything so far and proved how much the redhead meant to the blonde over and over. Of course Will hadn't done anything with the blonde, every time she thought about anything other than a small kiss after that night had caused panic attacks and the redhead as beginning to hate that. Danni deserved more than that, Will wanted to give the girl a real chance, but so far she hadn't been able to sort out the feelings of what happened between her and Matt and the feelings she was having towards the blonde girl. Despite everything though, Danni had been very patient and understanding with Will not pushing the redhead in the least to what the blonde wanted. Not once did the blonde's hands roam when the two were spooning during the colder of the nights so far.

What did Will feel for Danni though? She knew that Danni was beautiful, extremely so, but was she attracted to the blonde in that way? Or was it just the redhead admitting that she was slightly jealous of the body the blonde girl had? Not even her guardian form seemed as well developed as the blonde, and a part of Will found herself wishing more than once that she looked a little more like the blonde. Whenever those thoughts started occurring though, they were quickly swept away as she realized if she did look more like the blonde then Matt might have been even more...she didn't even want to finish that thought. She still found it hard to believe someone who she liked so much could turn out the way Matt did.

Staying with Danni had a lot of perks though despite the challenges they faced every day. So far the meals haven't stopped except for one day when there was some kind of family emergency and no one was left to run the kitchen or pass out food. Since they had breakfast the two shared a little of the money Will had saved and bought a sandwich a piece of the dollar menu at McDonald's. It was warm and good and enough to keep them until the next day when the kitchen was reopened. It did make Will realize that if that did happen to all of the churches and food kitchens though, then the two girls would be in trouble. In fact, many people who depended on them would be in trouble if they couldn't find food. The thought made Will swear to herself that if she ever had the chance, if she somehow ever came into money, she would return and make sure the people here all had the help they needed.

"Hey Red, do you still think about your mom much?" Danni asked with a heavy sigh as the two leaned back against the tree in the park, their tree which was what Will had taken to referring to it as since the duo often found themselves out here just watching the clouds and talking.

"I miss her, despite knowing that she doesn't want me." Will sighed, letting the blonde slip her hand into her own, their fingers interlocking.

"I know what you mean, I just can't help thinking about my grandpa. I seen him on the cover of that newspaper and ever since..." Danni said, her breath hitching a bit as the blonde clearly fought back tears. Danni had opened up a lot more to Will since that night when they ran into that bastard who tried to get the blonde to sleep with him. Despite having the rough exterior out in public, the blonde had shown her true self, her softer side to Will making the redhead promise to never tell anyone. "I know he hates me because I'm a dyke, but I remember all of the good times we had before my dad took me away. I know I don't have many, but that makes them all the more precious."

"I can't say anything about him, Danni, but I'm here for you." Will said, once again feeling herself wanting to comfort the blonde. Despite knowing that the blonde had a softer side, seeing her near tears like this was something that didn't happen much. It was always the redhead who seemed to break down and cry while Danni usually remained the strong one who protected and comforted the blonde. Will wished she was better at comforting the blonde, the feelings that welled up inside of her seeing the girl hurting like this seemed to make her more human than she wanted most people to see her as. It made Will want to reach out and hug her, to tell her it would be all right.

"Red, I know you mean well, but I'm beginning to think that you should go back home." Danni said as she pulled away from Will and climbed to her feet, her arms wrapping around herself as she took a few steps towards the edge of the clearing as she got closer to the tree line of the small forested area.

"Wh-Danni, why? Don't you want me here?" Will asked, unable to understand what exactly she was feeling. It felt like a part of whatever was left of her heart was close to shattering, if it hadn't already. She didn't bother hiding the tears that sprang forth as she climbed to her feet to.

"I do, Red, this is killing me saying this. I miss my grandpa so much, Red, and I've been out here a lot longer than you have. I know I have no chance at happiness at home, but you do. Your mom wants you, she's looking for you everywhere. There's a good chance you two can work out what happened and you can have a family." Danni sobbed as she turned to look in Will's eyes, the blonde's eyes full of pain and sadness as the blue orbs locked onto deep brown. "You can be happy, and warm, and not worry about where your next meal might come from or if the rood you sleep under will be demolished."

Slowly, Will moved over to Danni who tried to look anywhere except at the redhead's shining eyes. Carefully reaching out, Will cupped each of the blonde's cheeks and gently made blue eyes meet brown. She wasn't sure what she was doing, she wasn't sure how to make things right. All she knew was that she hated seeing the girl she cared for, even if what kind of feelings they could be was confused, this upset. It didn't happen as often as Will getting upset, but it didn't make Danni's pain any less real.

"Danni, I don't want to go home. I want to stay here...with you." Will said softly, giving the blonde a soft, yet earnest smile. "I care for you, a lot."

"Why?" Danni asked, her voice truly confused. Even her eyes had so much confusion in them besides the easily seen pain. "Why would you want to be with a girl who would fuck her own father? I'm filthy, disgusting, and worthless."

Will's jaw dropped from what the blonde was saying and it didn't take long to figure out where this was coming from. Thinking about Will's mother looking for her made the blonde think about her own family, including the bastard who for awhile raped and beat Danni. It wasn't the blondes fault, but the redhead knew the blonde blamed herself a lot of the time. And if that wasn't enough, Danni had slept with someone once thinking it didn't matter since she was already dirty. It didn't matter that she did it to help a little girl and her mother to the blonde, all Danni saw was that she was a whore in her mind. Will didn't believe that though, Danni was a wonderful, kind hearted and loving girl.

"Please don't, Danni." Will whispered as she dropped her hands to pull the blonde into a hug. "We've went over this before, you aren't worthless or disgusting."

"I try to believe that, Red, I do." Danni sniffed as she pulled away from Will and began pacing back and forth. "I know you said you need time, Red, I understand that. I can see the disgust in your eyes though every time you look into mine."

That wasn't true! Will never felt disgusted by the blonde, so what the hell was Danni talking about? Unless the blonde was mistaking Will's confusion for disgust, but the redhead was only ever disgusted with herself for being to afraid to try and see what there could be. She was afraid of...she was afraid of what it was to be with Danni the way the blonde wanted her to be. She was afraid that if she liked being with the blonde that it would change her, change what she was since she would be a lesbian...or at least bi. She wasn't either though, was she?

"Danni." Will sighed, her voice staling the pacing blonde who was now back by the large tree trunk. She had to brace herself for what she was going to do, she remembered the last time she kissed Danni and she admitted she liked it, but was that wrong? Did she just convince herself that she liked it or did she really enjoy the kiss. There was of course an easy way to find out, and she had set herself to doing just that.

"Red, what are you doing?" The blonde asked nervously as Will began stalking closer to Danni.

"What do you think?" Will asked huskily as she took Danni's wrists and pushed her against the trunk while pinning her wrists on either side of her head while leaning up to catch the blonde's moist, full lips with her own while pressing their bodies together. The feelings that shot through and filled the redhead made her a little weak in the knees as she felt her body molding against the blonde, her own smaller breasts pressing into the blonde's larger ones while their kiss became more and more heated. At first Will started to panic seeing Matt instead of Danni, but instead of his more hard muscles she felt the soft curves of the blonde shattering the image just in time to feel the blonde's tongue flicking across her lips seeking entrance. With a soft moan Will opened her mouth allowing the blonde entrance as their tongues began to battle for dominance, though Will easily gave into Danni as the blonde pulled her down to the ground to catch their breath a few moments before continuing their heavy make out session.

They stayed that way for several minutes, the feeling of Danni's hand running up and down Will's side making her react to the blonde even more. She tried to tell herself to stop, a part of herself was telling her to stop before going too much further. She was the one who started this though and she would be lying again if she said she wasn't enjoying it. It wasn't until she felt a hand slide it's way up her tummy to gently caress a clothing covered breast before cupping it and giving it a squeeze that she freaked out. Pushing Danni off of her she scrambled backwards in fear, breathing heavily for a few moments though she wasn't sure if it was more from excitement or fear.

"I'm so sorry." Danni said, breathing heavily herself while drawing the redhead's attention. Will idly wondered if she was just as flushed looking as the blonde was.

"D-Don't be." Will finally managed to gasp out, "I...I liked it, Danni. I just...I freaked when you grabbed me like that. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Red. I know how hard it is, believe me I know. I'm such an idiot, I know it hasn't been that long for you and your still getting over it." Danni said as she carefully scooted over to where the redhead was sitting. "I just want you to be happy, Red. I'm scared...I'm scared you won't be happy here or with me, you honestly deserve better."

"Let me decide what I deserve, and I personally think you are more than I deserve." Will sighed, "Danni, I don't know where this is going to lead us, but I want to give this a try."

"What do you mean?" Danni asked while clearly trying to keep from getting her hopes up too much.

"Us Danni, I want to give us a real try. I want...I want us to date." Will replied, her face tinting even redder. "I'm a little scared, Danni. I'm not too sure what's going to happen, my feelings are like all jumbled up right now. I do know I care for you...A lot more than maybe I should since we're both girls."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Danni huffed, though Will could tell she wasn't really angry.

"What I'm trying to say is, your the first girl I've ever felt anything like this for. I honestly don't think I'm exactly bi or gay or whatever you call it since I can't even bring myself to think of another girl besides you." Will said slowly, trying to piece together what her feelings were and explain it to the blonde, but it wasn't easy. "Danni, I think I may truly be falling for you, I'm not sure I completely understand it. I'm halfway afraid it's just a rebound thing or hero worship?"

"Hey, feel free to worship me all you want." Danni grinned while striking a seductive pose, leaning forward making sure that Will got an eyeful of not only the blonde's beautiful face, but her ample cleavage as well.

"I-I-I don't...I don't want to lead you on, Danni. I want to try giving us a chance though." Will said, stammering a bit as she tried to tear her gaze away from the blonde's crawling body as she crawled almost into the redhead's lap.

"Then we will have to test things out and see how you feel. First thing, do you like what you see?" Danni whispered, her voice sounding as if she was purring as she straddled the redhead's lap and looked down into hazel eyes. Will couldn't do anything but nod slowly as the blond began to lean down, her lips getting closer and closer to the redhead's until the could feel each other's warm breath. "Then kiss me."

Will didn't need any more of an invite as the two renewed their make-out session, though both girls knew it wouldn't lead anywhere. They both had their own demons and both understood Will's feelings of fear of too much which made Danni remember to not do anything that would make the redhead's subconscious consider it a threat. Danni would do her best to help Will through what she was feeling while at the same time hopefully prove to the redhead that she was worth Will's love.

LINE BREAK

The sound of rushing of water slowly started to bring Danni back to the waking world, sleep quickly fleeing as she realized that something felt off, something felt very wrong. Opening her eyes and sitting up she looked around to find herself in a sunny glade at the edge of a large pool of water with a stunningly beautiful waterfall making a light mist that reflected the early morning light in a way to create dozens of sparkling rainbows. Despite waking up in this beautiful place, it wasn't what was making her stare in shock. There were three white horses and one black one drinking from the crystal clear water, four horses in total. Four horses with...wings?

A giggle that sounded almost like bells drew her attention as she sat up straighter just as a girl in a white gown lowered herself to sit next to Danni. Looking at the girl made Danni's heartbeat increase dramatically at seeing just how gorgeous she was. Her beauty wasn't the only reason though, she had this aura of being much, much stronger than the delicate looking girl that could be a princess or even a goddess. Her sky blue eyes drew Danni's own blue orbs in, mischief and love clearly in them for the shocked girl.

"Wh-Who are you?" Danni whispered in surprise as the girl leaned close capturing Danni's own lips with her own. At first Danni let herself be absorbed into the kiss before a red-haired girl's image came into mind making Danni gasp as she pulled back quickly. She could see the disappointment in the other blonde's eyes, but it was quickly covered up.

"You really love her, don't you?" The blonde asked while running her fingers through long blond locks of hair. "Not only is your heart pure and strong, you are loyal to those you love. My mom was right, you would make a great addition."

"Addition? Addition to what?" Danni asked. She knew she should be freaking out right then, but the girl's aura seemed to also have a calming effect on Danni. "Who are you?"

"My name is Isya, Danni." Isya said. "My mom wanted me to speak with you, but I was kind of hoping for a little more. I won't lie to you, Danni, I really like you. I've been watching you for some time."

"Watching me?" Danni asked, a little bit of worry beginning to fill her despite the calming aura. What the hell was this girl? Who was she?

"I don't have much time sadly, despite me wanting to stay here with you forever." Isya said sadly. "I can't tell you what we are just yet, but I can tell you that there is a great evil tainting your world. They are planning to undo the seals on Midgard that chains the beast. They have already released the chains in Nifelheim and are continuing onto Midgard."

"What the hell does that have to do with me?" Danni asked, beginning to freak out even more.

"You can help stop it, Danni. You can help save your world when the time comes. Are you willing to? Are you willing to give everything to protect the girl you love?" Isya asked sadly while giving Danni a look filled with pity confusing her.

"Of course I would, I...I love Will. I'd give my life to protect her." Danni said, her voice full of love and conviction.

"Are you sure about that?" Isya asked, the girl all of the sudden becoming serious.

"Yes." Danni said with a nod before she blacked out, the last thing she heard before waking back up next to Will was the strange girl whispering, "I'm sorry."

"What the hell was that?" Danni gasped as she sat up, looking down at the redhead next to her. She felt a lump grow in her throat looking at the redhead knowing that she meant what she said in what must have been a dream. She loved Will with every fiber in her being and would give everything to protect her, even her life if it came down to it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **October 7, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Sorry people I was sick last weekend and despite my BF finishing with this chapter midweek I only got my hands on it today. I have to leave shortly to get ready for our date tonight and I want to respond to a few reviews and say hi to a few friends so not much of a note today. Hope you like the new chapter.

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><p>The court room was deathly silent as the judge sat at the bench while looking around at the various people in the court room. Susan was sitting next to her husband, their hands held tightly awaiting the verdict for what Matt did to her little girl. She still couldn't believe that they pushed the trial through so fast despite her protests as she wanted to make the little son of a bitch pay for every little thing and they couldn't do that until they found Will. In fact, they couldn't even put up a strong case without testimony. The district attorney didn't seem to even care, he worked as hard as he could to just push the case through and be done with it.<p>

Rubbing her currently large stomach as she was in her last trimester, Susan wondered if she deserved another child. She knew she royally screwed up with Will, most of what was happening now could have been avoided if she had just been a better mother. She loved Will, the redhead meant so much to her, but between the way the two had been drifting apart since the move to Heatherfield caused a huge strain on their relationship. It fell to her shoulders mostly as she finally admitted to herself that there were times that Will tried to talk to her, but Susan was to angry at her during those times to really listen to what the redhead had to say. Why didn't she just swallow her pride and listen instead of keeping the fight going?

"It'll be okay, Susie." Dean whispered while he squeezed her hand. She knew he didn't believe it as he was mad at the entire trial. Every piece of evidence that was brought up was quickly shredded by the defense and declared circumstantial and not allowed to be used as evidence. Even the video which clearly showed more than enough proof was removed as they said it was too dark and too many shadows. And without Will there to testify against Matt, the audio was also dismissed as they said it could have been the two role-playing if it even was Matt, which the defense insisted that it wasn't.

Then the worse happened, not that Susan shouldn't have been expecting it from the start. The jury each assured the judge that it was the way that they voted which made the man on the bench sigh and stare out across the courtroom before settling on Matt. "Well, Mr. Olsen, it looks like luck was on your side today. Personally, I would have thrown the book at your punk ass, but my hands are tied. You are hereby found not guilty on all charges brought against you and after processing you will be free to go. That is all, court is adjourned."

Matt and his parents were celebrating while Susan broke down in sobs, not caring that the judge got up from his seat and stalked off out of the courtroom with a smirk on his face. He slipped into his chambers locking the heavy wooden door behind him as he sat at his desk steepling his fingers before him just as the room grew colder and darker unto there was barely any light left. Two slits of light appeared above the desk, opening to look like glowing red eyes staring at the judge.

"Is it done?" A dark voice echoed throughout the room.

"The fool was cleared of all charges and will be back out on the streets causing discord among Candracar's bitches." The judge grinned as he licked his lips, "Maybe I should help him more?"

"Don't be a fool!" The voice boomed angrily, "We are so close, we have found three of the seven points for Midgard's seal. Let the fool play with the brats, I need you to oversee my foot soldiers in the area until the seal in your area is found. I already have a new batch with improved chips scouring the place called Lowerton and another heading your way. Don't fail me or you will be joining my last general."

As much as the judge would have liked causing pain to the high and mighty guardians, he feared the gift of eternal life that his predecessor was granted with. Eternal life and the ability to regenerate every morning any injuries gained the day before, only to be chained to a large rock while a murder of crows pecked him apart and ate bits and pieces of his flesh including his eyes. To live through that every day only to have everything healed and regrown only to go through it again. No, failure was not an option.

"Of course, Sire, I'll see to it that everything is taken care of." The judge said with a shiver before the eyes disappeared letting the room lighten up once more. It took a few minutes for the judge to stop shaking at the threat of sharing that painful punishment.

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><p>The sounds of laughing could be heard in the park as a red haired girl ran as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels. She didn't let the foot of snow deter her as her white fake fur lined coat and jeans with boots protected from the chill air as she ran from her pursuer, dodging just as a projectile flew past where she was moments before. Giggling a bit the redhead scooped up a handful of snow in her glove covered hands and formed a quick snowball before spinning to throw it at her pursuer who also dodged the return attack. Will was ready for another attack from the person chasing her, but she didn't expect to be tackled into the snow and held there as the person's lips brushed up against her own.<p>

"Looks like I win." Danni said while looking down in the redhead's eyes, both girls panting heavily from playing the last hour as the evening grew later and later.

"From where I'm at, it looks more like I am." Will retorted while giving a playful grin. The last six months had helped her a lot. Hell, the blonde had helped her more than anything else as the two grew closer and closer. Their friendship growing to attraction for each other, and from that to love a deep bond grew between the two. A bond that seemed nothing would ever be able to break. They've grown so close that Will often wondered how it even happened and how she allowed herself to fall in love with another girl. Looking up into bright blue eyes made Will realize that she didn't fall in love with a girl, she fell in love with a person. She fell in love with the most wonderful person on the planet and she never wanted to let Danni go.

"Mmmm...I don't know red, I have you underneath me and at my mercy. I can do anything to you I want such as this." Danni grinned as she kissed Will softly before pulling back, "Or this." Another kiss, this time more passionate. "Or maybe this." The blonde giggled before kissing Will with all her love, her tongue slipping into the redhead's mouth.

"I still say I'm the winner." Will gasped as she caught her breath after the two finally pulled apart.

"Come on lover girl, let's get back before our clothes get soaking wet." Danni said getting up from Danni as the sun was just giving off the last rays of light before completely disappearing. She got up and helped pull Will to her feet before the helped dust the excess snow off each other. They may have gotten some extra winter clothes a piece thanks to a generous donation one of the churches had gotten, but it was still best not to push their luck.

As the two started back, their hands locked together, fingers intertwined, Will leaned up against the redhead thinking back on what her life had become. She still had night terrors, she was afraid that wouldn't change. There were so many days that she missed her mother so much and even her friends, even Cornelia's bitchiness. And on top of everything the pain that Matt caused Will was still with her, though it was no longer all consuming like it was at first. She thought her life was over and running away would only lead her deeper into the darkness that she had found. Only in the darkness she had found a light, a bright light that illuminated her life and gave her back a sense of hope for the future. A hope that she would make it through the challenges that she knew was ahead.

There was something that had been bothering her the last few days though, especially with how close that they have been. She had never been able to bring herself to come straight out and say how much she loved Danni, or even that she loved her at all. She said that she loved Danni like a friend before and she knew she told the blonde numerous times that she cared for her so much, but she had never been able to bring herself to say that she loved the girl as a lover and more. Not that they had made love, the closest the two had come to that was plenty of heated make-out sessions with a lot of heavy petting. Something that she wasn't comfortable with at first, but wanting to forget Matt and move on she forced herself into it. It was surprising in a way how easy it was to get into it once she got her subconscious to stop bring up images of Matt every time they started.

She knew one thing though, it had been painfully clear for awhile now that she loved Danni. The two was just so good for each other and everything was so much better for both with the other around. They helped each other fight their inner demons that the two had in spades. Will brought laughter and light to a girl that Jessie said was never really truly happy until the redhead showed up. Danni however gave the redhead confidence in herself and a sense of being wanted and loved. Will wanted to do something extra special for the blonde, something to show how much Danni meant to her. A thought slipped into her mind and as she thought about it, they had been together for a little over six months now. Will knew how much Danni wanted to see more of her, to do more with her. Maybe now was the right time, it wasn't like she saving herself any longer and the blonde meant so much to her. Still, it was a big step and she wasn't exactly sure if it was something she was ready for. Glancing up to the beaming look on the blonde's face Will decided that the blonde was worth it and abolished all thoughts against it.

"Danni?" Will said to get the blonde's attention. It was getting dark lately, but they were able to stay out later and later thanks to the oil lamp that they had found that had an almost new wick and plenty of oil. When the blonde looked down with a happy smile, the redhead continued before she lost her nerve. "I love you, and I want to show you how much."

"I love you to, Red." Danni said while giving a reassuring squeeze with her hand.

"I want to show you how much, Danni." Will said, her face burning a bit.

"You do everyday just by staying with me." Danni sad with a smile, though her look screamed confused.

"No, Danni, I want to _show_ show you." Will said, unable to hide the smile as the look of recognition crossed the blondes face as they started down the alley that was the quickest way back to their sanctuary, their home.

"I love you to." Danni said while gently pushing Will against the side of the building while leaning in to the redhead with her arms bracing herself above Will's head. "Are you sure you want to, are you sure you're ready? I love you Red, I won't force you into anything. I'm more that happy to wait."

Before the blonde could say anything more Will grabbed her and pulled her into another kiss, a heated passionate kiss that left no doubt of what Will wanted. It took the surprised blonde a few moments for her brain to kick back into gear before she deepened the kiss. The two melted into each other, their hands holding the other tightly to them as they both put every once of love they had into the liplock.

"Well boys, look what he got ourselves here. A couple of genuine lesbos for us to play with." A condescending voice said, his words full of hatred.

"What do you want?" Danni demanded as she spun around to face the group of five older men standing there with sick grins plastered on their faces. Will couldn't help but feel slightly afraid as she clutched the heart through her shirt staring at the gang before her. The powers were still gone, her own eternal gift even abandoning her as she stared out across the sinister looking men.

"I don't think so, bitch. See, we're here to find something for our masters, but it gets so boring and lonely with just ourselves. And on top of that, we're so hungry." The apparent leader said with a grin as Danni took up a fighting stance whispering over her shoulder.

"Red, run like hell as soon as they attack. I'll distract them while you go get help." Danni whispered, her words stern telling Will just how serious the blonde was. There was no way in hell Will was going to leave Danni there to face the thugs by herself.

"Boss, we don't have time for games." One of the other men said sounding nervous while eyeing the girl's hungrily.

"Then I guess we will just have to eat and run boys. huh?" The leader said earning laughs from the others before all of their faces shifted in the dim lights that filtered into the alley from the streetlights turning on. Will gasped for a moment before yanking out the heart and thrusting it before her.

"Guardians UNITE!" Will screamed as the monsters jumped toward them. Nothing happened for Will though as she couldn't even feel a spark of power from the now lifeless jewel. Danni however managed to kick one between the legs though it wasn't having any effect on the thing as two grabbed an arm each and held the struggling girl tight.

"Please, let her go, I'll do anything you want!" Danni said as she tried as hard as she could to yank her arms free. Will wasn't doing any better as another one grabbed her and painfully yanked her arms behind her, pinning them while holding her tightly. She could feel his body against her, his mouth near her ear, but couldn't feel any breath except when he talked.

"Why should I let her go, little girl?" The thing holding Will asked in a smug tone.

Will tried to cry out, to scream for anyone to help, but the thing holding her shifted his hold so he could keep her still in one hand while the other covered her mouth. Her eyes widened in fear as the creature whispered so only she could hear it, "Relax guardian, it will all be over soon and your power will free us from our master when we devour you."

"Let her go you son of a bitch!" Danni shrieked in fury seeing the thing hurting Will, but she was just as helpless as one of the other creatures came up from behind her while the leader came from the front to lean close to her, forcing her eyes to meet his hateful, demon like eyes that was now pure black. She tried to keep herself from crying, but she could feel hot, wet tears escaping as the thing leaned over and ran his tongue along her throat and across her neck before her world exploded in pain. She tried to shake him off, she tried to scream out in white hot agony, but her body was no longer listening to her.

"Let her go!" A new voice growled out, obviously female and enraged. Danni couldn't find herself able to care though as she felt so tired and weak all of a sudden. There was no longer any pain at all, just a coldness that was claiming her as she fought to keep her eyes open.

"DANNI!" Will shrieked as she watched in horror, unable to help the girl she loved. A flash of green burst through one of the things holding Danni before turning it to dust leaving a black haired woman in a green and black checkered catsuit standing there with her arm outstretched through the area the creature was just moments before with green fire surrounding the hand. The woman dodged the three things not holding onto Will as they dropped the blonde to attack the newcomer.

It seemed like child's play the way the dark haired woman danced and pirouetted around the sloppy strikes of the thuggish creatures. It would have been astonishing if Will's attention wasn't on the convulsing blonde on the ground laying in a growing puddle of red. The sounds of the fight didn't even reach her ears as she cried out for the blonde as she struggled and cried to escape from the insanely strong grip of the thing holding her. Something caused the grip to slacken and disappear causing the redhead to dive forward and smash into the ground. She didn't care about the dirt or the blood, all she wanted was to go to the blonde, to help Danni.

"Don't go, Danni, please Danni stay with me." Will sobbed trying to take her gloved hand and hold it over the bleeding wound.

"I'm so sorry." The woman said making Will look over her shoulder to see the saddened face of the woman, but no sign of those monsters. The woman was fidgeting as if she was unsure of what to do or say.

"Please...save her, help her." Will sobbed out, looking up with pleading eyes as tears streamed openly down her face.

"I can't, I wish I could, but there's nothing I can do." The woman sighed sadly as sirens could be heard growing closer making the woman fidget in place even more. "She's dead, there's no surviving one of their attacks."

"You have to help her! I can't lose her, I can't! I...I love her, damn it, please help her!" Will sobbed as the blue and red lights could be seen drawing close now.

"I'm so sorry." The woman sighed before turning and running making Will collapse on the blonde and holding her close while sobbing, trying to keep the blonde from dying by any means necessary.

"I...love y-you...red." Danni coughed as her breathing began to grow more and more shallow.

She didn't even realize someone was behind her until she was struggling to get away, screaming for Danni while reaching out towards her. More people came, but her eyes were so blurry with tears she couldn't quite make out who they were or what exactly they were doing other than they were messing around with her blonde. A sting in her shoulder surprised her before her eyes started growing heavier and heavier until she left the waking world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date****Posted:**October 21, 2011

**Written****By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta****Read****By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Here's the next two chapters, my bf was busy so he didn't get time to proof them until now. The next one I also had to type up recently and since a lot of people have been wanting me to release new material for this story, at least new stuff based on where I left off, it made my decision over the next chapter easy. It was pretty long and I had to decide if I should try and summarize and shorten parts of it or make it into two separate chapters. As you can see the next one I shortened, though I'm not a hundred percent happy with it so I may go back and add the rest to it sometime, but it will end up making that chapter really, really long. Anyways, I should have the next chapter which will have about 80% new material in it typed up by Monday and given to my bf for proofing. So look for it near the end of the week or the weekend at least. Anyways, here's the next two chapters which catches up pretty much where I left off except for Will's reunion with Irma and Cornelia's moms and there will be even more encounters in the next chapter.

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><p>The constant beeping of the machines in the dimly lit room was the only constant noise in the small hospital room where Wilhelmina Vandom lay staring at the ceiling with a dead look in her sad eyes. Once again everything she cared for and loved was ripped from her and this time she didn't want to fight. What was the point fighting to go, to survive when the last person in the world who loved her was brutally murdered while Will stood helpless watching the entire thing. Not even the all might powers of Candracar was any help as they had left her defenseless against a world that most people on Earth knew so little about. And now, she learned that Meridian wasn't the only place that had monsters as she had seen things straight out of a horror movie. She couldn't deny it, those things were vampires! A horror movie reject had managed to take the last vestiges of love and happiness that Will had found and shatter them completely.<p>

When she first awoke she knew that Danni was gone, she wasn't sure how but she normally could feel the blonde inside herself and now the girl was gone. The redhead didn't care about the people swarming about her asking questions and trying to get her to cooperate with their checkup as they tried to get vitals. She didn't bother answering questions as the doctors asked nor when the police officer came into the room. Not even when the man got red in the face demanding to know what happened did Will bother talking to the man. She just didn't have it in herself to care, not any longer. Her reasons for living had been stripped away little by little over the last year until she had nothing left. She wasn't going to try finding another reason because she knew as soon as she did it would be ripped from her as well.

Sighing she tried to move to at least get a little more comfortable to wallow in her self pity, but found herself unable to do so. She had momentarily forgot about being tied to the damned bed. They had straps running across her ankles, wrists and body keeping her snugly in the bed, a prisoner. She remembered a nurse talking about it, saying how sad it was to see a girl so young so full of depression that she had to be subdued for her own good.

"Take it easy young lady." A soft voice said from the side of the bed. Looking up Will saw a nurse looking over her chart after putting something in the IV going into her arm.

"Leave me alone." Will whispered hoarsely as she found it a little difficult to talk.

"I'm glad to hear you say at least something, we were all pretty worried about you." The nurse said brushing some of Will's hair out of her eyes. "We found you in an alley sweetie, you was with your friend who...I'm sorry. Do you feel like talking about what happened? We want to find the monsters who did that to her and make them pay."

Make them pay? Find the monsters? Will couldn't stop the mental snort of disdain for this girl as she realized the nurse was trying to be friendly yet fish for information that the redhead had no intentions of talking about. All Will wanted to do was lay there and suffer in peace, she wanted to die and be with Danni where ever she was now. There was nothing anyone could do, these freaks were dead now thanks o that woman which at least made Will feel a little better. She knew that those things would never hurt anyone ever again.

"We're running a search to see if we can find your family sweetie, do you feel like helping us get in contact with them?" The nurse asked, trying to change the topic though she only earned herself a hate filled glare from Will before she turned her head away and closed her eyes. She refused to listen to this damned nosey woman anymore and as far as Will was concerned the woman could jump out the window for all Will cared. Hopefully they were pretty high up as well...

"I guess I'll let the doctor know that you are up." The nurse said with a sigh before walking out of the room. Will sighed in gratitude that the woman finally left as her body started to convulse in silent sobs for a few moments before fresh tears began to fall and Will sobbed out loud.

"Hello Will, I'd ask how you were doing, but frankly you look like hell." A new yet familiar voice said drawing the redhead's attention.

"What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on hippie world dancing naked around a bonfire?" Will asked hatefully as she glared at one of the former guardians who chuckled at crack about Zamballa. Hippie world indeed, it was something she herself thought of the place a few times. The older woman never did see what her astral drop that became real saw in that world.

"Actually dear, you are thinking of my astral drop." Kadma said as she sat down on the side of the bed and gently pulled the IV from the redhead's arm before putting a bandage over the place where the needle was in her arm moments before. "Like you, several of us had our astral drops gain their own sentience and go off on their own. I was more than happy to let her take my place as guardian as I grew sick of the bastards on Candracar."

"You don't like Candracar?" Will asked in shock. She always believed that even though the former guardians didn't have any real love for the place, she believed that they cared and respected their former employers. Especially since Halinor was on the council and Yan Lin always seemed more than eager to pass on the knowledge and mantle of guardians to Will's generation.

"Hell no." Kadma grimaced as she began undoing the straps holding Will to the bed." They're self righteous pieces of shit who would rather send in teenage girls to do something they're too lazy to do. They don't even bother training them before throwing them to the wolves to have their lives destroyed."

"What are you doing here?" Will asked softly while looking at the ebony woman with mistrust. She wanted to just give in and die, why was the woman undoing her bonds to the bed? Will wasn't planning on going anywhere and she doubted the guards that she was sure was outside her room would let her until they had the answers they wanted. "Are you trying to recruit me to go against Candracar?"

"Child, I could care less about Candracar. You have partly guessed why I am here though. I care about Earth and I'm recruiting people to help defend Earth from something Candracar is to lazy to look into." Kadma explained as she finished letting Will loose. "I'm not here to recruit you though, I'm here to offer you a choice. Come with me and you can live a normal life and go to school and maybe even college if you want. After you finish your schooling you are free to do what you want, join us in protecting the Earth from the things that attacked your friend or go on to live a peaceful normal life. We can even give you a new identity."

"Do you really want to know what I want?" Will asked as she sat up and rubbed her wrists. "I want to be left the fuck alone! I don't want anyone telling me to live for a life I no longer want! Damn you, damn all of you, I just want to be left ALONE!"

Kadma gathered the sobbing girl in her arms and held her tightly, rubbing her back while whispering soothing things in her ear. It was something she really didn't expect as she had pegged Will as being angry and wanting revenge on the things that killed her friend. Kadma never expected the redhead to be broken like this, what had really been going on? What really happened to Will? Kadma didn't expect to run into the current keeper of the heart, but when Shego had reported what she had seen the older woman had a feeling it was Will. Checking into it Kadma quickly learned that it was Will as the girl's clothes were sitting on a small nightstand with the Heart and the ebony woman would know the redhead anywhere.

Getting up from Will Kadma grabbed the clothes and grabbed Will's hand, making sure to keep a tight grip on the heart. After a few moments of looking up at the elder woman as Will wobbled a few moments, Kadma said, "Laura, two to transport please."

"Right away boss lady." A sweet voice drifted from somewhere before the world lurched causing Will to feel nauseous as her head spun wildly. Her vision swam as wild colors danced before her eyes before darkness settled in.

"What happened?" Will groaned as she sat up, wincing as a small stab of pain shot through her head. It wasn't enough to stop her as she looked around the thin room with two bunk beds, one where she was on and the other above her head. Looking around the small chamber there was a small table with a few chairs, a rack with what looked like several high tech weapons hung and a large computer terminal. At one end of the narrow chamber was a small door shaped opening leading to what looked like a truck's cabin from where Will sat. The other end was a solid metal wall that slanted upwards.

"Oh, your finally awake." A voice said happily drawing Will's attention back to the entrance of the cabin. There was girl about her age with long black hair in twin ponytails with streaks of pink. Her skin was so pale and yet had a pinkish quality to it that just didn't exactly seem normal.

"What happened?" Will asked groggily staring at the pale girl.

"Sorry about that, the transport is still a new technology and all the bugs aren't exactly worked out yet. The shock knocked you out for a few hours sweetie." The girl said before pursing her lips momentarily before Will noticed two small indents in the girl's bottom lip when she relaxed. They almost looked like there were...fangs... "By the way, I'm Draculaura, but most people just call me Lala or Laura."

"Laura, could you head up front and listen for Shego on the com?" Kadma asked coming through the door and squeezing past the strange girl that Will was beginning to wonder just what exactly she was.

"Sure thing boss lady." Laura said with a beaming smile before she moved towards the front in only what could be described as a skip to her step.

"Sorry about not warning you, Will." Kadma said before taking a small bundle off the table and dropping it on the bed next to Will. It took a few moments to realize that it was her clothing and a small silver chain with a silver pendant in the shape of a bat with pink jewel eyes. Will looked down and realized she was still wearing the paper thing hospital gown making her pull the sheet up over her chest blushing a bit. "The transport device can be a bit jarring your first time, but I'm glad that you're awake as we have a lot to discuss."

"Can you turn around so I can get changed? And where is the heart?" Will asked a little worried. She didn't have any plans on going back, but the heart was her responsibility and she wasn't going to let someone steal it.

"Fine." Kadma huffed as she turned around. "It isn't like you have anything I haven't seen before. Hell, I've seen much better on occasion."

"Gee, thanks a lot." Will quipped as she began pulling on her clothes before looking at the curious bat charm. She could feel a power emanating from it.

"That, Will, is the heart. I know you are running from them or you wouldn't be out here. For your information, Cadracar can track you by tracking the heart." Kadma said as she turned around to see Will staring at the charm. "I had Laura create a binding charm to bind the heart's powers until you need it. Just concentrate on the heart and the pendant will release it. Hold it before the pendant again and it will reabsorb it. While the pendant is containing the heart most of its powers will be sealed away, but a little will leak out allowing you to use some of it without being traced."

"I don't think the heart is working at the moment anyways." Will sighed before slipping the chain around her neck and clasping it closed. She didn't exactly know if what Kadma said was true, but there was something about the older woman that told Will that she could be trusted. Trusted yes, liked was still up for debate.

"Come have a seat, Will. It seems there is much to discuss." Kadma said motioning toward the small table.

* * *

><p>It was too much to believe, Candracar knew what was going on and never bothered to inform the guardians of the upcoming power loss. It seemed that there was more worlds that Candracar was policing, even ones that were largely desolate and void of life. All except for one very powerful entity...the demon Trigon. Candracar had the thing imprisoned on a dead world where a lot of power went to keep it in check. With the coming up alignment of planets there would be a drop in Candracar's power and a spike in the demon's power. Candracar was forced to use all of it's power to shield themselves just incase the demon escaped as Candracar would be its first stop. The remaining power they used to put up extra shielding around Trigon's prison in hopes of keeping it contained until the alignment came to an end and the original shielding could be repaired and reinforced. The bastards knew all of it and they never bothered contacting the guardians. In fact the heartless bastards left them high and dry.<p>

Even knowing all of this wasn't enough to accept Kadma's offer though as Will truly no longer cared about going on. She laid in Danni and her sanctuary, their blanket clutched to her chest after she left the transport truck that Kadma and her friends were using. The entire story was hard to believe and made Will think even less of the bastards on Candracar. They were approached by Kadma months ago to ask them to assist the new organization that the older woman was a part of. They were fighting to stop some kind of invasion force made up of artificially created monsters. Monsters that killed Danni.

Will could get revenge on the things that took her life away, to stop the things that stole her love from her. Kadma gave her a week to think about it and offered her a place to stay with them while she thought. The only condition that Kadma gave in order for Will to join was to go to school on their base and finish high school then go to college their while taking boot camp. The demanded all of their employees trained extensively, both their minds and their bodies before being allowed to enter the battle. It would mean a new life for Will, a chance to try and move on from the pain her life had become.

Problem is only thing she wanted was something that was taken from her, and without Danni Will just didn't have the strength to go on any longer.

* * *

><p>It had been five days since Kadma got Will out of the hospital and for the first time except when she needed something to drink and the occasional meal, Will left the only home she had known for months. Today was different because it was the last time she would ever see Danni as the funeral was this morning. Well it couldn't really be called a funeral as no one was there and there was no service, just the city burying another homeless girl. The didn't even bother looking for any relatives as there was no evidence to who she was. The entire afternoon was spent crying over the blonde's grave until it started getting dark making her tear herself away from the fresh grave and forced herself to slowly walk step by step back home. It was so lonely without the blonde, her life no longer seemed to have any meaning.<p>

Will couldn't help snorting in disgust at her life the more she thought about it. Ever since her father had left them her life had continued to spiral faster and faster towards hell. All of her friends at Fadden Hills never truly liked her, only acting friendly towards her because their parents made them because of who her father was. No one wanted to be around a pathetic little brat who drove her father away though. Then there was coming to Heatherfield and meeting the girls, a whole new set of friends. Yeah, right! They didn't give a damn about Will, all they wanted was for her to be the keeper of the heart. She should have been able to turn to her remaining parent, but she was too busy with her new husband to give a damn about the pain Will was in. Susan couldn't care less about Will, didn't really care if she lived or died. The only reason there were missing person reports about her was to save face. Let's not forget her boyfriend, the one who swore to always love and protect her. The one who ruthlessly beat and raped her, stealing something she could never get back while at the same time adding even more cracks and damage to her already fragile heart. And finally there was the girl, the person Will had given her heart to. And yet again doing so had caused her even more pain as Danni was ripped from her, her life ended by horror movie rejects who wasn't even the real things. All things considered, her life was worthless. She was worthless.

The redhead couldn't keep the tears at bay as she stumbled into her home to find a shadow moving around in the dimly lit room. "Who's there?" Will demanded, half hoping it was someone who would just grant the wish she had been begging to come true for the last several days. She hoped that whoever or whatever it was would just end her life so she could be with Danni.

"Relax kid." A slightly familiar voice said in a calming tone, a green glow forming that bathed the room in a beautiful, if odd shade of light. "I brought you something after I found out a little about what happened."

"Yeah, and what the hell do you know?" Will asked, trying to sound angry though her words came out more bitter and broken.

"Unlike the Kaddie, I research more about the pasts of the people behind me to learn all I can about them. A part of my...previous job I guess you could say. I know you are on the run kid, and I hate to admit it, but that tears me up inside when I look at you. You look so much like her." The woman said, her dark hair and pale skin giving off a green tint from the light coming from one of her hands. "I found out that you loved that girl that was killed and I found this in one of those bastard offices after overhearing them talking about hocking the pretties."

A slightly shaking hand reached out and took the manila envelope the older woman held out with the non-glowing hand. Opening the flap a pair of skull earrings and a silver chain holding the engagement ring Danni's grandmother gave to the blonde a few years ago. There were also a letter inside written in Danni's own handwriting that Will had never seen before, though she knew Danni was writing something and seemed a little worried about something the last few months. Danni had waved it off saying she was just a little anxious about winter coming up and Will had understood how it could be a little scary. Squinting at the letter Will tried to make out what was written on it before the glow intensified making the lighting a bit brighter making the letters more clear.

_Hey Red,_

_I don't know how to start this letter, but I want to explain about some things in case something does happen to me. Lately I've been having these dreams about monsters swarming across the world and killing everyone before a giant wolf devours the planet. I keep trying to just pass it off as a seriously fucked up dream, Red, but other nights I meet up with this girl. (No, nothing happens between us, you are the only girl for me.) She warns me of something terrible approaching and tells me that in order to save everything I love, the person I love with all my heart, to save you Will, I would have to make a great sacrifice with my life. I will happily sacrifice my life if it meant saving yours. I truly love you, more than you ever know, and I was planning to ask you to marry when Christmas arrived. I know we couldn't have made it official, but it is what is in our hearts that matters. I was going to give you gram's wedding ring and ask you to be my wife because you mean the world to me. _

_If something does happen to me though and you read this letter, I don't want you to give up. I know you, I know you are still hurting inside and if something happens to me it will hurt you even more. I know you are strong though, I want you to do me something very important. I want to ask you to do me one thing, one final request. Live. I want you to live, Will. I want to go on and live and find happiness and help those who need it. Don't give up on yourself and don't give up on those people who need you. No matter what happens just remember that you are loved, that I love you and I am watching you from above and will. I will always be with you. Please Red, please Will, live and be happy._

Will dropped to her knees, her hand covering her mouth as one sob after another escaped for several moments before anger started to take over. How dare she ask Will to go on without her? "How dare she? How DARE she ask me to go on without...her?"

Will was a little shocked when the other woman knelt down besides Will and rubbed her shoulder. "She loved you and wanted you to be happy apparently." The woman said softly.

"I can't be happy without her!" Will sobbed as her tears returned full force until the woman pulled her into a caring embrace, stroking her back as she cried while cradling the teens head against her chest attempting to comfort the redhead. "What does she expect me to do? I don't have anyone who gives a damn for me...No one loved me but her, and I love her too much to go on without her."

"What about the people you met since you came here? Don't you have any friends among them? Don't any of them care?" The woman asked softly.

Will couldn't help thinking about all of the people she met since coming here and despite the few bad apples there were so many people who did care for each other. They all treated each other like family more or less. The doctor, the people who volunteered at the food kitchens, Jessie and even Logan who she ran into every once in awhile. They all treated her with kindness and always had something kind to say to her.

"Maybe a few." Will sighed.

"Look pumpkin, there's tragedy in everyone's life. That's inevitable. It's what you do when it happens that can truly show what kind of person you are. You can be a quitter and give up, kill yourself. Show everyone that cares for you that you don't give a damn about them. Show the ones who hurt you that they won, that they crushed your spirit and defeated you." The woman said softly. "Or, you can use the pain that you feel to get stronger and show the people who care about you that you deserve their love. Show the people who hurt you that your strong, that you can become so much more than they think. Tell me kid, do you want to be life's bitch or do you want to be the bitch that kicks fate's teeth in?"

"I don't know if I can be strong enough." Will sighed, but she had to admit the strange woman had some good points. She didn't want to disappoint the people she cared for, much less Danni. Danni was so strong and Will had always admired the blonde for it, but if she just gave up would Danni even be able to stand looking at her when they were reunited in the after life?

"You remind me so much of her and the reasons I joined up with the guardians. Kid, you don't have to fight on the front lines, but if you come with us you can make a new life. We can change your name or anything you want and you can finish school and if you decide you don't want to fight you can always go your separate way or act as support to the ones that do fight." The woman said, "And if you let me, I'll do my best to help you. No matter what you choose, I'll try and find some way to help you."

"Okay." Will sighed pulling away from the woman. She wasn't sure why she was doing this, but she couldn't just stay here and wallow in self pity. She wasn't fooling herself into thinking that this wasn't going to be hard as she knew better than that. If she stayed here though it would be impossible as she had nowhere else to go and the memories were to fresh and painful to stay here. She would take everything with her though so she did have memories, but for now, she would leave this place behind and try and be strong enough to make her friends proud. To make Danni proud.

"Sweetie, we can get you a new blanket. Hell, you will have your own bed." The woman said as Will picked up the blanket while looking longingly at it.

"It wouldn't be our blanket though." Will said while hugging it to her chest.

"I'm sorry." The woman said.

"It's okay." Will said while giving the woman a sad smile. "By the way, what's your name? I think Kadma said it was Shego but..."

"It is, or at least that's what I went by for years." Shego replied, a small trace of pain in her voice. It seemed like Shego had some of her own demons as well. Maybe Will could find a way to help her as well.

* * *

><p>"Will!" Laura cried in surprised happiness as she threw her arms around the redhead making Will stiffen a little bit. She didn't hate this girl really, but she was highly uncomfortable being around the thing that the creatures were based off of that killed Danni. A part of her may have resented the gothic looking girl, but she didn't hate her. "I'm so glad you came, I was so worried about you."<p>

"You were?" Will asked a little shocked. Did this girl really worry about her? Laura didn't even really know her so it was probably just pity for the worthless homeless girl. The look didn't look like pity, it looked as if she was genuinely worried about Will as relief at seeing the redhead safe swept over the vampire's face.

"Of course silly." Laura said as she pulled Will farther into the trailer transport where Kadma was sitting at the table where it seemed she just sat down with several bags from McDonald's.

"I'm glad you came, Will." Kadma said as Laura pushed Will down into the seat where the aroma was making her stomach growl. She hadn't really realized how hungry she was until just then. "I didn't expect you, but you can have mine and I'll grab something when we pull out."

"Don't worry about it, K, she can have mine. I ate some real food before I met up with her so I'm not hungry." Shego said before grabbing Laura and leading her to the computer while whispering something into her ear.

"I don't want to put anyone out." Will started to say as Kadma pulled out sandwiches and fries from one of the bags and passed them to Will along with napkins and ketchup. Will gratefully took the offered food and was sipping on the cola when Shego came back carrying a sheet of paper.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Wilhelmina Stark, wife of Danielle Stark." Shego said making Will spit out the soda across the table and all over the dark skinned woman which got Shego laughing up a storm. After a few moments and looking at the annoyed look in Kadma's eyes, Will couldn't help smiling a bit. Despite the pain it made her feel thinking about the blonde, it felt nice to be called her wife since it was what she wanted and had admitted to Shego on the walk back to the truck.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date****Posted:**October 21, 2011

**Written****By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta****Read****By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

* * *

><p>It had been six months since leaving Lowerton behind, though not for good. For the first month she came back every other week to bring flowers to Danni's grave as she brought flowers while saving all the money she could get to buy a real tombstone for the girl's grave. She was shocked when she showed up one day to find a giant marble statue of an angel with a plaque on the front of the base saying how much Danni was loved and how she would be missed. After that she started spending all of her extra money that she got buy stuffed toys since she remembered Danni saying that they were a guilty pleasure, chocolates and bouquets of roses to leave for the blonde. She was also able to make it every week now to see her on Saturdays despite the suggestion that she try and limit the visits from her therapist.<p>

Yep, therapist as in a psychologist that tried to shove anti depressants down her throat. She knew she was depressed, but it wasn't the chemical kind of depression that needed medicated, it was the kind where your life is shit and there's not much you can do about it. In the end, Will had told the doctor to shove the pills up his ass which earned her a new doctor. One that took her feelings into consideration and really helped her work through a lot of stuff. The two had actually became good friends to some extent.

Speaking of good friends, since coming to Merston and living in a dorm that made her very uncomfortable at first thanks mainly to who she found as her new room mate...Laura. Oddly enough, despite the initial wariness around the girl, Laura had become Will's closest friend over the last few months and even accompanied Will some times while visiting Danni to keep the redhead company and learn a little more about Danni.

Of course there were other people who became her friends over the months, mainly those in Laura's group. The somewhat snobbish Cleo who Will was shocked to learn was a real life mummy. Her boyfriend Duece who had a head full of green snakes for hair and a constant pair of shades protecting people from being turned to stone. The sassy werewolf Clawdine, or Deenie as some of her friends called her. Laura's match in optimism was found in Frankie Stein, the daughter of the Steins. The caring exchange student from Australia Lagoona Blue who always seemed to be able to give words of encouragement to her friends. The siren Melody Carver was another great friend, her family being one of the few human families that was a welcome to Will though she had nothing against the others as she learned more about them. And that was just a few of them, there were so many others as well, but these drew some parallels with the girls from Heatherfield minus the false friendships. There was nothing really making these people be friends with her, and they often got into arguments though they were quickly resolved and they went on.

Of course her fellow students at Merston High, or as many of the students called it after rearranging the letters Monster High, wasn't her only friends. She had gotten to know the woman that was Shego and despite never finding out what the woman's real name was, Shego had become a big sister to Will. She had helped Will get over some of the pain, though the redhead knew that she would never get over it completely. Shego also helped Will do something she always believed her mother would do, Shego taught Will to drive and helped get her first car. It was nothing special as Shego had given an important piece of advice to the redhead: "No matter how much money you have, you would be wasting it buying a new car as your first when there is a high chance of fucking it up."

Will could have done without the raven haired woman's constant cursing as she could make a sailor blush. At the same time, it was a part of the older woman's charm as she was brash and arrogant, though she could back it up as she never took anything off anyone. At the same time she seemed to be fiercely loyal to those she cares about, even if she won't admit caring about some people, and she would give her life to protect them from anything. Including having to learn of the more dangerous things out in the world when there was little need for them to.

All things considered, the last months had been insanely busy catching up on school work as well as Kadma suggesting several business courses for college prep work. They were a total headache, but her roomie was very smart despite the airheaded act she sometimes used when around people. It was a strange story when the vampire finally told it to Will which showed how much trust the vegan girl had in Will. That was another thing that helped Will get more comfortable around the girl, even if the redhead knew better. Laura was a vegetarian and only ate food that was grown as well as drank a special wine that her father sent to her. As one that never tasted blood freely and the few additives, the vampire never realized that the contents of the bottles were a preserved blood that was freely donated by contacts of the girl's father. As for to what Will knew that the others didn't was the entire severity about the girls age. While they knew she was 1600 years old, they believed she was just a typical teenager. That was as far from the truth as it could get and if anyone would think logically about it, they would see it. Te only one who could possibly see part of it was Cleo, though the mummy slept most of the years she was alive. Laura however lived every single one, having to have tutors come in and teach her about everything she needed to know to blend in with the people her age in that time period. Her body was sixteen, but mentally she was much older than all of her friends combined and there was a deep sadness in the girl as she had to always watch people close to her grow old and die. Laura even admitted to being best friends with Clawdine's grandmother, great great grandmother and great great great grandmother despite the current werewolf not knowing it.

Now though was a time to concentrate on the blonde as today was a Saturday and the day she usually used to visit Danni's grave. Unfortunately Laura couldn't come with her so Will was on her own and took her time driving there from three in the morning to make the seven hour drive before noon so she could spend a few hours talking to the blonde before having to leave to return back to her dorm in Merston which was more or less mostly populated by personnel in the GF-13, families of said personnel, or the so called monsters that these things were searching out to experiment on in order to make even more fake creatures of the night to serve whatever purpose the things did.

Sighing as she once again tried to push all of the thoughts that didn't concern Danni out of her head as the sign signifying her arrival in Lowerton.

* * *

><p>It was hard knowing that one of your best friends were brutally attacked and that it could have partly been your fault. Or at least for Irma it fault like it was partly their fault as they made Will feel as if she wasn't wanted when their powers were on the fritz and the worse part was that they were all wrong about what had happened. The girls had finally been called to Candracar to get filled in on what happened to their powers and the reasoning behind it. To say that the girls weren't happy was an understatement as they managed to alienate Will and she felt she had to stay at Matt's that night when the storm was coming instead of allowing one of the girl's parents to give her a lift. It was part of the reason why the girls also blamed the council of elders and the Oracle. The whole excuse of needing the power to keep a great evil imprisoned didn't fly as they could have given plenty of advanced warning instead of putting them through what the council did.<p>

None of it compared to what Will must have went through, thinking she had no one to be there for her. They knew she was having trouble at home and yet they just added to it. As easy as it could be to blame Cornelia as a large part of it could easily be put on her shoulders, they just couldn't. Though they didn't treat Will as coldly as the blonde had, they didn't exactly go out of their way to defend the redhead. It was just as much their fault as Cornelia's, as the councils and even Will's own mother. They all played a part in driving the redhead away, but if there was one person who Irma was wiling to place the lion's share of the blame on then it was Matt.

Irma believed Matt was the biggest part of why Will was missing. He had hurt her in a way that no one should ever be hurt. And while the girls weren't sure if it was truly Matt or Shagon's darker personality from the time he was under Nerissa's control, Irma was sure that it was Matt. In a way Irma never did really trust Matt as he tended to flirt with other girls while Will wasn't around which pissed Irma off to no end. Will would wave it off as it just being Matt being friendly which was possible she guessed. Of course as much as she wanted to believe that, she couldn't. The way Matt treated Will on a normal basis was another thing, such as that time we was supporting that other girl during a swim meet instead of Will. In Irma's opinion it didn't matter who the hell it was, Matt should have been supporting his _current_ girlfriend.

With a heavy sigh Irma continued through town, heading home from the Silver Dragon with a heavy heart. She looked up as she heard a sirens wailing growing closer and closer. She gasped when she saw three police cruisers and an ambulance whiz by. For some reason a sense of dread filled the girl as she watched the procession of vehicles. She prayed that whatever it was, it wasn't nothing too big. After all, Heatherfield was one of the cities with the lowest crime rates so what could happen? Right?

* * *

><p>It was another Saturday afternoon and even though his time was needed very badly as his company was in the middle of acquisitioning Simultech, Anthony Stark felt that what he was doing was vastly more important. No matter how many flowers he bought and sent to his young granddaughters grave site it would mean nothing if he himself didn't personally deliver them and talk to her. Much to the dismay of his personal assistant who helped him through a lot, though he wouldn't give her what she wanted. He wouldn't betray his late wife's memories for a meaningless relationship with a woman that was probably half his age.<p>

Of course with no heirs since disowning his son once finding out what happened to Danielle, he needed to leave someone in charge of his company after passing away. He wasn't immortal, he knew that, his doctors had already given him a very limited time left, a year tops. He should live another 20 years easy because he did his best to stay in perfect health, but his body had been slowly poisoned over the years despite nobody catching it until now. Out of all the resources at his disposal, everything failed at reversing the damage just as he had failed his granddaughter.

"Sir, we're here." Layla said from the front seat of the car as it pulled over to park. The distaste in her voice was evident, he knew how the woman felt about gays which was the only bad quality she had. Well, besides from her obvious wanting to get her hands on his money, but he couldn't exactly blame her for it. It was human nature and she had worked so hard over the years that he was thinking about naming her his heir. Not that she knew that of course. As long as she didn't outright say anything about his little Danielle and continued to do the excellent job she has done, the woman just may realize her dreams sooner than she thought.

"Thank you, Layla." Anthony said as he took the large bouquet of roses and climbed out of the car as the woman shut it off, though he could hear music coming from the car as she relaxed in the driver's seat listening to whatever she enjoyed listening to. Anthony was never one for music so never really paid much attention to it.

He silently wondered if this would be the day he would meet whoever kept his grandchild company as he often found flowers, chocolates and stuffed animals around the headstone. Of course it was a good possibility since for once he was pretty early compared to his usual visits. He kept trying to visit different times in order to run into the person leaving the gifts. And it looked like he finally had. There sitting on the ground facing the large marble headstone surrounded by flowers and other gifts sat a redhead with her knees pulled up to her chest. He was going to introduce himself, but stopped when he heard the girl sniffle before she started talking.

"You should have seen it love, all of the boys on the track team was teasing Deenie saying she would never be able to outrun them. The idiots didn't even realize that the moon was in it's full phase and she already felt it's effects. She ran around the track three times before any of those idiots made it once." The girl said, her voice mixed between laughing and crying as she let her legs go and pick up one of the stuffed animals that looked like wolf and picked at a piece of dirt that got on it. "Do you like it? Deenie said you would probably love it, after all everyone loves a wolf. Or at least in her opinion, but she's a bit biased, right?"

Anthony kind of wondered what the girl was talking about, wondering if the redhead was talking about a werewolf. He knew his old friend was involved with the supernatural like that being a retired warrior for some wannabe monks acting like a cross between angels and a policing force, though from his friends point of view they were just a bunch of assholes with too much power.

"I miss you Danni, so much." The girl sobbed all of a sudden as she played with the ring around her finger, his dead wife's ring that was given to his grandchild. AT first anger filled him at seeing this girl with it wondering if she was just another gold digger. He did so much for the homeless people since he learned how much some of them looked after Danni. If she was though she would have already contacted him about money or something, yet she hadn't. And someone had been leaving a lot of stuff for Danni and by the looks of it, it was this redhead. They weren't eighteen yet though, so how could they be married? Or were they just engaged? Was this girl a lesbian like Danni, or at least bi?

"Excuse me." Anthony said after clearing his throat causing the girl to jump up and turn around in fright. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

"Who are you?" The girl asked, narrowing her eyes as she glared at him with mistrust and nervousness.

"My name is Anthony Stark, I'm here to see my granddaughter." Anthony said softly before taking a step back at the pure hatred and anger in the redhead's eyes.

"You son of a bitch! How dare you come here? Are you here just to gloat that the worthless lesbo is dead? Are you, you bastard?" The girl seethed, her voice choking out the words in a hateful tone though not yelling, despite it sounding like she was on the verge of it. "Well you bastard, she wasn't worthless! And I swear to god if we weren't in a cemetery I would be kicking your ass for what you did to her!"

"What...I...did?" Anthony asked slowly, confusion filling him at the pure anger shining in the girl's eyes. Nope, not the eyes of a gold digger. More of the eyes of a pissed off lover protecting the person they love.

"You refused to help her when her dad was abusing her! You wouldn't even talk to her, instead you had your new girl friend tell her that he didn't want anything to do with a filthy lesbo disgrace!" Will snarled as her eyes flashed pink a few moments as did the eyes on the pendant she was wearing. Anthony wasn't sure he saw it or if it was a figment of his imagination. What he did know was that someone decided to put words into his mouth and he had a feeling he knew who it was. That bitch was indirectly responsible for his little girl being buried here and he would make her pay for it. For now though...

"I did no such thing, but I think I'm going to be short an assistant." Anthony growled out, "Look, I think there is a big misunderstanding. I loved Danielle with all my heart, and when her father ran off with her it broke my heart. I put my assistant in charge of finding Danielle and getting custody of her, but it looks like I made a terrible mistake thinking I could trust someone to do something that important."

"Maybe you should fire them then." Will snapped making Anthony narrow his eyes in anger.

"Believe me, I am." Anthony said as he tried to reign in his anger. This girl, though he wasn't sure how much he could trust her, didn't deserve his anger as it truly seemed she was protecting Danielle's memory. "Look, I don't want to discuss this here. Can we please go somewhere that we can get a cup of coffee and talk there?"

"Fine, but if you try anything you'll regret it." Will said as she watched the older man owlishly. "I'm not the weak little girl I was a few months ago."

"Don't worry about it, I swear that I won't try anything...can you hold on a sec, I have to take this." Anthony said as he pulled out his ringing cell phone, the tone playing Iron Man by Black Sabbath. "Hello. Good, I wanted to talk to you Richards. Make sure security knows not to let Layla back into the office as her services are no longer required. Good, I'll see you soon."

"Layla?" Will asked giving the older man a curious glance.

"My now ex-employee." Anthony said as he glared out towards the cemetery's exit.

* * *

><p>"Isya, dear, I've been looking all over for you." Sif sighed as she joined up with her daughter on the sidelines of the training fields. The young blonde recruit going up against four others, and she was kicking all of their asses so badly it made them look like rookies. And the funny part was, they weren't. Sif recognized the four, they were in the top twenty percent of their class and were no slackers. Yet here was a girl who was recently brought here from Hella to join their ranks who seemed to naturally take to the life of a valkyrie.<p>

"I told you she would be great mother." Isya giggled while watching the new recruit.

"That she is dear, your father sent me to check up and see how she's doing." Sif said while pulling her daughter off the field and into a small alcove where they could have a bit more privacy to talk.

"What's wrong, mother." Isya asked as she grew confused over her mothers actions.

"Dear, anyone with eyes can see how you pine for her. I don't want to see you hurt and you know that her heart lies somewhere else." Sif said gently while caressing her daughters cheek.

"She's just everything I ever wanted in a mate mother, it isn't fair. I...I think I love her and I know if she would just give me a chance I can show her how much better I am than that weakling." Isya said, a little anger seeping into her voice at thinking about a certain girl still on Midgard.

"Sweetie, just because someone is weak of body doesn't make them weak of heart. I really wish you could understand that." Sif said sadly while wondering where exactly she failed at that important lesson. The one thing her daughter hated most was weakness, and for some reason she seemed to despise everything that was weak. While Isya was devoted to her duties and took her responsibilities seriously, she hated doing them as it meant protecting the innocent people on Midgard which many were weak in her child's eyes which made them worthless to Isya.

"I don't care if she is one of those heretics guardians. She is nothing without that gaudy piece of jewelry." Isya sneered, "I'd love to rip that worthless bauble off her neck and teach her that her place is under an Asgardian's heel!"

"Isya! Don't you dare talk about anyone like that. You may be a goddess, but that doesn't make you better than anyone. I thought I at least taught you that much." Sif snapped as she folded her arms under her breasts to glare at her child.

"I'm sorry mother, I just...I hate her so much! That bitch is the only thing she talks about. I don't even get a second thought and it isn't fair!" Isya said, her voice wavering a bit as she refused to cry and show weakness. The valkyrie did not show weakness!

"Have you ever thought that maybe there is something special about her that you overlook in your quest to gain attention?" Sif asked softly.

"I don't know, mother." Isya sighed before the sounds of clashing metal halted. "I'm sorry I have to go, I have to see to the cadets."

* * *

><p>Over the next six months Will had made it a point to meet with Anthony every Saturday where they would visit Danni together before sharing a meal and talking about their memories of the blonde. Together they learned a lot more about the special girl who meant so much to both of them. It wasn't until one week when he didn't show up for their meeting that made Will realize how important he was to her. The two had grown very close and when he didn't show she got very worried, but passed it off to having to spend the day at some emergency business meeting.<p>

The following week when he didn't show up, but his lawyer did sent chills through the redhead's heart. And when he told her he passed away, the news of inheriting everything from him didn't console her as she lost another precious family member. She couldn't even go to the funeral as it had already been held before the lawyer met with her.

Over the next four years Will threw herself into learning everything she could about running the business with Laura being her strongest support as the girl knew just about everything about it already and constantly tutored the redhead with anything that was needed. Of course she also threw herself into training and became one of the highest rank cadets at the academy.

While accomplishing all of that, she still didn't forget all of the people back in Lowerton that helped and befriended her. Betty was on the verge of being forced to close the clinic before Will had a larger, brand new medical center and hired Betty to run it the same way she had the clinic. It was large enough even to move in the support and counseling center which Betty loved as it would put it all under one roof.

Will also created several large homeless shelters and helped many of them get training to start new jobs, many of them being in the new SS Industries Hardware center which made larger electronics while it's sister company in Heatherfield did software and small electronics such as computer boards and chips.

She knew that being a member of GF-13 would force her to go on missions which she had avoided since she just graduated. Once she did graduate though, she knew she would be going out to do whatever was assigned to her. She just wasn't really prepared when her first mission was going home.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date Posted: **October 23, 2011

**Written By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta Read By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

This is important so please read. I will be working on one story from my old account at a time and I have a question I need to hear peoples opinion on. The next story I will be doing when finished with this one is going to be Stalker and I need to know as I type it up, what I have written in my notebooks, how should I do it? Should I just either copy and paste from the original and paste into one chapter and continue from there or should I use the new versions I worked on in my notebooks. If I continue from where I left off it will get to new material so much quicker. However if I start from the beginning on the stories it will take longer to get to the new stuff?

Also, some of this chapter is parts I did copy and paste from the original story because I think the original was better in places than the newer one. There is a lot of new stuff in this chapter as well as a few meetings.

* * *

><p>"It had to be Heatherfield, didn't it?" Will grumbled as Laura passed the sign signifying that they were entering the city limits. She wasn't entirely ready for this and doubted she would ever be, no matter how many years passed. Still, she had no choice as the Guardians, that is GF-13 had finally learned more information as to what they were up against. The group they were fighting is searching out some kind of seals that when released would devastate the world, if not outright destroy it. The reason behind why the seals were still there in the first place was still unknown, but the common belief was that they were being used to either seal some kind of deity and keep imprisoned or keeping the thinning veil around dimensions from tearing and letting who know what in. The good part was that the one located in this area still wasn't located. The bad part about it was that it still wasn't located.<p>

"Relax sweetie, I bet it won't be anywhere near as bad as you are worrying about." Laura said trying to assure the redhead that everything would be all right. "Besides I will be with you, by your side the whole time if you want."

"Damn it, I forgot to withdraw money before we left." Will sighed, smacking her forehead at the realization. Of course she could use her debit card or write a check, but for now she wanted to avoid that so they would need money and if she remembered correctly she had a private account at one of the banks that had a branch close to where they were. "Turn here, I need to stop off and make a withdrawal before heading to the hotel."

"If you say so, but I could pay for our room." Laura suggested, trying to make everything easier on her friend. After all Will had been there for the vampire through everything since they met despite being wary of her at first. Everything from their last year in High School through college, from troubles with her dad to being engaged to Clawd, Will had been with her through thick and thin. Hell, the girl was going to be her maid of honor in a few months when everything here was taken care of.

"It's fine, it's not one of our company banks anyways so I doubt I'll run into anyone. Just wait outside and keep the car running just in case." Will said, though she seemed to be getting nervous.

Will wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen and heard it with her own eyes and ears as she tried to stay inconspicuously sandwiched between a marble pillar and a rather large potted palm. And failing spectacularly at it, fortunately nobody was paying much attention. In the lobby at one of the non-company owned banks she used, the branch in Heatherfield coincidently. She stopped off momentarily to withdraw enough money to rent the penthouse suite in one of the newer hotels in town since she didn't want to use any of the company owned places. She didn't want people getting pictures of her and putting two and two together until she was ready to go public. She really wasn't expecting to run into anyone she knew, but she spotted Anna Lair in enough time to duck out of sight. Her own red locks being a little bit harder to hide over the years having become a more brilliant shade of crimson with maturity.

It was hard to believe that the once proud woman was actually begging for an extension on her family's mortgage, but the bank was refusing as it had been extended already several times from what Will heard. A distraught Anna left the bank crying softly after being told that she would lose their home in less than a week if it wasn't paid up. Will had and still loved Irma's family, they had always been so kind to her and they didn't deserve this. Taking a deep breath to still her nerves at this unforeseen complication, and resolved to do what she knew was right. Will boldly walked forward to the same counter and demanded to speak to the branch manager in private.

Several hours later after finishing up her business at the bank the two retired to the Hotel and had a few girlish giggles the expense of the shocked front desk clerk looked when they saw how young Will was and how much money she freely spent for the penthouse. Both had to admit the place was beautiful and well worth the money once they arrived.

Now though there was plans to make and the first thing on the list was getting legal help that was outside of the companies influence and that meant calling someone she knew she could trust. Someone she knew would do their best to make sure things went smoothly and how Will wanted them to. If she randomly called an attorney from the yellow pages though she could end up getting someone crooked or incompetent. No, she needed someone she knew could do everything Will wanted without worrying about them being bought off. Out of everyone in Heatherfield, only one person came to mind...Elizabeth Hale.

"Laura, can you do me a favor?" Will asked as she pulled out dropped the large heavy bag she just retrieved from the trunk of the car onto her bed.

"Will, you did NOT bring THAT!" Laura exclaimed in shock while looking at the heavy looking bag with obvious worry etched into her features.

"Yep, I'm going to visit dear old mom tonight and browse through her computer." Will smirked, "Besides, that's later. For now I need you to make a phone call because I really need to talk with someone."

"In other words you are planning to break into your mom's place and hack her computer." Laura said through narrowed eyes, though she wasn't angry. If anything she was amused as she knew Will always did things her way despite what she was told. And most of the time, by sheer dumb luck or by fate, things turned out for the better.

"You know me so well." Will said with a cheeky grin which made Laura giggle a bit. "About that phone call, I need to talk to a lawyer...a good one."

"You have one in mind." Laura asked, already knowing the answer.

"Unfortunately." Will sighed, "I need you to call Elizabeth Hale's firm and have her come right over if she can. I want to iron out the details tonight and have her meet me in two days at the office."

"In two days?" Laura asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Tomorrow I'll be going over everything I get from my mom's computer and any files you get when you go in the morning." Will said as she picked up the heavy bag and threw it in the closet so her guest wouldn't see it.

"Your a slave driver, you know that?" Laura asked earning the redhead's tongue stuck out at her.

"You love me anyways." Will giggled, earning the vampire's own.

* * *

><p>Cornelia Hale wasn't sure about this whole setup as she pulled into one of the more expensive hotels in town. The whole thing seemed like a setup, but the money was good and if this really was someone with a lot of power maybe they would need a good accountant and she would be able to help Anna get a job despite her unwarranted bad reputation caused by the crooked bastards at Simultech.<p>

She didn't bother talking to the person at the front desk as she informed them she was here on business and knew where she was going. Not for the first time she wondered if perhaps she should have brought someone with her. Maybe her daughter since if this was some kind of trap then Cornelia could easily drop a slab of rock on them and crush them. hen again that would be abusing the trust the girls put into them when they finally revealed their secrets to them. Of course she was angry at the time, she was also very proud of her girl for saving a whole kingdom from evil and always trying to stand up for what is right. She was a little disappointed in learning her daughters part in what happened to Will, but was proud that Cornelia admitted she messed up belittling Will and blaming her. Cornelia grew up so much over that and was no longer obsessed with popularity and herself. She was much more concerned with those around her, especially her friends and family. It was just so sad that it came at such a high cost.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hale." A soft voice said as she realized the door to the suite she was standing before opened before she even had a chance to knock. Looking up made the woman swallow nervously and debate turning around and hurrying very fast away from there. After all a lady didn't run...screw it, she wanted to run for her life. This young woman always scared the hell out of her. She met her a few times through Susan and even though the girl seemed to unsettle most people, she outright scared the hell out of Elizabeth. She was sure the girl wasn't normal, and after hearing some of the things her daughter faced she knew that it was a distinct possibility.

"L-Laura?" Elizabeth more or less squeaked out.

"Do I scare you Mrs. Hale?" Laura asked sweetly, though the look on her face as she licked her lips was anything but innocent. The goth looking girl did scare her, but Elizabeth refused to admit it to her.

"N-Not at all." Elizabeth said as she straightened up trying to look calm and composed, though the stutter in her voice at first more or less gave her away.

"That's good to know, why don't you come in and have something to drink while we discuss business matters. Maybe I can even offer you a _bite_." Laura said backing up allowing Elizabeth room to walk through the door. The way the girl said 'bite' though made her wonder if this was actually such a good idea.

"I already have some wine set out for you, and I can have room service bring up anything else you might wish." Laura said as she led woman through the suite to a table with several small stacks of paper on it.

"I really shouldn't be drinking." Elizabeth said.

"Believe me, with what you are about to learn you may want a drink." Laura giggled as she sat herself down at the table signaling for the blonde woman to take the opposite seat.

"What is it you called me here for? I know you work for Simultech." Elizabeth said, wondering why she would call her when there were several lawyers that the company could provide for free."

"That is a short and long story, Mrs. Hale." Laura said folding her hands and propping her chin on them and gave Elizabeth a look that deeply unsettled her. She couldn't tell if Laura was looking at her as in checking her out as if she was playing the other side, or if she was checking her out as if she was food. Of course she could possibly be studying her for other reasons such as looking for any hint of dishonesty, but the hungry gaze she gave off made that option doubtful. The girl pushed one of the folders over to the blonde woman, "This is a privacy disclosure that you must sign before we discuss anything. Take your time and read it and if you agree, sign it and I will explain everything."

Elizabeth opened the folder and was a little surprised to see a formally drawn up contract demanding full privacy issues on everything learned here. She wouldn't be allowed to tell anyone, not even her family. The strangest part was that it even covered the identity of the owner of SS Industries which would mean that she may actually get to learn who it was. Of course if she signed it she wouldn't be able to tell anyone because if she did, there was no way she could afford the penalties involved. Taking a deep breath she picked up one of the pens on the table and signed it, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding when Laura's expression turned from cold and calculating, near predatory to an open and friendly smile.

"Well, Mrs. Hale, looks like you get to meet your new boss." Laura smirked, a look that made Elizabeth once again swallow nervously. How could a look so friendly have such an evil glint to it?

"Hey Mrs. H, thanks for coming on such short notice." A red haired young woman said as she sat down at the table on the side between the two already there. The voice was so familiar as was the face, the eyes, and everything about her. She had no doubt of who this was and she couldn't stop the tears at forming when she realized that she finally came home.

"Will!" Elizabeth chocked out as she flung herself at the girl, wrapping her arms around the girl bringing tears to all of their eyes as they were happy to be a part of such a reunion. After talking about where Will had been for about an hour, enjoying a bit of whine and some finger foods ordered through room service.

"I hate to stop this, Liz, but we really do need to talk business before it gets too late." Will sighed, ending their talks about what was going on. Sadly she could tell that Will was skeptical about what she heard about Susan. Will wouldn't even talk about her mother much except that she agreed to think about seeing her while reminding Elizabeth about the contract she signed. "There is a lot of corruption running around in my company and I need an outside source to act as our companies attorney instead of the possible crooked ones. I want to hire your firm on full time, with you being in charge."

"I can easily arrange that Will, but I do have a request." Elizabeth said, "If you really are worried about corruption and you're trying to weed it out, you will probably need a good accountant."

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Will asked as she ran her fingers through her hair. It was easy to see that the girl was genuinely interested in Elizabeth's advice on the matter.

"You remember Anna, don't you? Irma's mother?" Elizabeth asked slowly. She wanted to bring this up gently with Will incase the girl heard about the trumped up charges the company brought up against Anna. She debated asking how Will could let that happen, but Elizabeth knew that the board was pretty much running the company for awhile, especially during that time. "She used to be an accountant at Simultech, but was fired because someone was stealing money and she caught it. They made it look like she did it though and fired her, making it almost impossible to find a job."

"What about Tom? Isn't he one of the best cops here?" Will asked as she was a little confused about why Anna was in so much trouble with her mortgage to begin with.

"He's paralyzed from the waist down and he's become...well, he's very depressed and really hates himself because he still thinks he's become a burden. He refuses to accept any help and won't take a desk job because his life was being someone who could go out and protect the innocent. He was pretty much forced to retire because he wouldn't take a desk job." Elizabeth explained softly, trying to work up her anger at the man only to be unable to. As much as she hated to admit it, she understood where he was coming from partly.

"Well, I will need to hire someone I can trust to go over the books. In fact, I may need someone to become my head accountant because from what little I know the current one won't have a job much longer." Will said, "Don't tell her anything, but if you can get her to my office at SS Industries in two days then I'll give her a job."

"You won't regret it, Will." Elizabeth said, hugging the girl tightly again.

* * *

><p>The rush and exhilaration of being thrusted twenty feet into the air by the small boosters on her hips and back of her hard suit as it propelled her through the air from rooftop to rooftop always took her mind off things. It was a suit that technically her company created when Anthony was in charge for military use to protect their soldiers from being killed, but the cost of the suit was too much for the politicians to deem practical. Of course, that didn't mean that they weren't in use as there were plenty donated to GF-13 when Kadma went to Anthony for help. Will was one of the lucky ones to get one for her missions as she had been assigned head of her own squad with Laura being support and her second still unnamed. Usually she would have had a second by now, but since her first mission was an infiltration and information gathering one she wasn't assigned one yet. She was assigned the hardsuit though to practice and learn how to use it. Granted it was supposed to be kept on base for this operation, but the stealth capabilities in it just made it too good of a tool to leave behind.<p>

"Are you almost there, Crimson?" Laura's voice asked through the built in communications system in the dark helmet. It broke Will out of her adrenaline filled euphoria as she landed on top of the old apartment building that was once her home.

"I've arrived at target, Vamp. I'm preparing to enter and get the data, are you sure this will work?" Will asked, though she knew she didn't need to. She was just beyond nervous about this small operation and knew that Laura's hack-key always worked, but Will just needed reassurance of any kind. All she had to do was plug the USB key into any computer and it would hack into the computer, pass any password protected parts, and copy the entire hard drive onto the compressed key that Laura designed with the five terabyte thumb drives that SS Industries created. Simple yet efficient.

"Be careful, Crimson. Vamp out." Laura said, signifying that she was cutting communications so it wouldn't possibly be overheard while she was still there in case Will needed something.

It was easy climbing down the fire escape to her old bedroom window, after all she did it numerous times before back when she was younger and one of Candracar's unwitting lackeys. That was something she swore to herself to never become again, a lackey for a group who thinks they own the universe and everyone should bow to them. Of course Candracar's council didn't outright act like that, but in the end that was what their actions made it look like. She could even feel how the heart had lost faith in her own people.

The room she was in was dark, but switching over to night vision let her see well enough. And it was a sight that tore at her heart as there was nothing left of her there. No, the room was changed completely from the paint and carpet to all of the furniture. This was a young boys room, a young boy who was asleep in the bed sitting against one of the room's corners. She didn't know what to feel over it as a part of her was kind of happy knowing she had a little brother while another part was angry that he took her place.

Shaking off the growing realization that her mother truly had moved on without her, to the point of erasing any evidence that she was once there, Will silently crept from the room leaving the suit's cloaking field on as she crept into the living room where Susan had her computer set up. She hit the button on the computer turning it on while looking around the room one more time making sure no one was there. After making sure she was alone, not hearing any signs of anyone being awake at this late hour, she deactivated her stealth field and turned off the night vision so the light from the monitor wouldn't blind her.

A small panel opened in the back of her arm revealing a small compartment with the USB key fit snuggly inside. Taking the key Will plugged it into the front port on the computer and watched as a chibi Draculaura appeared with a spinning bat shape instead of an hourglass showing that it was working. It only took a few moments before the spinning stopped and the chibi vampire held open a bag as pages started flying into it as it copied the contents on the computer. She was surprised it didn't take that long to crack the passwords, but she knew Laura was good. After she closed the bag and gave a grin and thumbs up, Will pulled the key out just as the light flicked on.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my home?" Susan demanded, a baseball bat in hand as she glared at Will. The redhead was glad of the voice changing property of the hardsuit as she backed away from the woman. Will didn't think it would be this hard seeing the woman again and wondered just how hard it was going to be to actually face her as she knew there was no getting out of it once they met at SS Industries unless Will could come up with some way of talking to her while keeping her secret.

"Sorry, I can't answer that Mrs. Vandom." Will said, her voice coming out as a female synthesized voice.

"My name is Collins." Susan said as she stalked around Will holding the bat defensively.

"Oh, that's right, you gave up one bastard to be with another." Will taunted, a pain shooting through herself at the truth of those words. Some students, namely Uriah, enjoyed taunting her about being a bastard child that her father didn't even want. The pained look shooting through Susan's eyes made Will silently rejoice a bit at making her mother feel just a little of her pain. A moment later she regretted it wondering where the hell that even came from.

"Don't you dare, you have NO right!" Susan snarled as Will faded from view after activating her stealth field again.

"I have every right, but if you want some feel free to come get some." Will bluffed, despite the wildly rolling emotions between pain and anger, love and hate, Will couldn't bring herself to hurt her mother. Silently she crept back out the way she came hidden by her cloaking field. When she got outside and made it several blocks away she dropped against the door to the roof access of the building and let out a sob. She leaned her head back against the door letting herself cry freely as her cloaking field dropped turning out to be a mistake.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are bitch, but you picked the wrong house to break into." A familiar voice said as a beautiful brunette woman dropped from the sky on large angel wings wearing robes of green and blue.

"Who said I broke into anywhere?" Will said as she climbed to her feet, her voice weak and hoarse even through the voice synthesizer. She was shocked at this girls look as she knew who it was, but not how she came to look like this. This was no Candracar guardian form. "So Irma, do you really want to challenge me?"

"Who are you?" The woman asked, narrowing her eyes angrily.

"That's for me to know and you never to find out." Will smirked as she armed a lower power knuckle bomb and slammed her fist into the ground. While the hardsuits didn't come with weapons, Will had a few defensive weapons added to her own such as the knuckle bomb. Of course it was more of a smoke screen that a bomb as they were only designed as a distraction. The only things that Will wanted to seriously injure was the things that weren't really alive, the fake vampires. Despite the pain that this woman caused her, that her own mother caused her, she would never physically hurt them.

Ducking out through the smoke as her cloaking field once more activated, pushing it to it's limit as it still didn't have enough time to cool down from it's previous uses. It was a wondrous piece of technology, but to put it in something this small meant that it would have limits to it's usage, limits that could easily be pushed causing it to burn out. She was able to slip away just as Irma summoned a large wave of water out of the air sweeping the smoke away from the rooftop revealing that she was alone there. Will couldn't help sigh in relief when Irma didn't follow meaning that she was getting away freely though the frustrated scream from Irma worried her a bit.

When Will finally made it back to the hotel, she spent the next few hours crying in Laura's comforting embrace. She wasn't sure if she was really ready for this, mission or not.

* * *

><p>Susan sat in her plush office chair watching out the large bay window of her office over the lovely city of Heatherfield. In just two short days the owner of SS Industries, or Simultech-Stark Industries would be coming for a visit. Rumors had it that the reason he or she was coming was to wipe out the corruption that had done nothing short of infesting the nooks and crannies of the company like vermin over the last few years. In which there were salaries cut as past job titles had been changed and positions completely done away with, some literally overnight. Not even Susan was safe from them even though she kept doing what she had when Anthony Stark was still alive.<p>

Such was the efficient ruthlessness that the unknowns dealt down upon what they considered their vast corporate empire, since Tony Stark had passed that is. As they now began cutting like a diamond honed razor blade into anything and everything that crossed their path before proceeding to root around in the wounds. Then with almost supernatural quickness twisted the innards to suit their own twisted ends, all in the name of the almighty dollar!

Privately, Susan thought of them as nests of roaches clinging in places that usually one would have never thought to look. Scurrying when the light flipped on and pointing the finger at someone else for doing it. And they had been rooted there for as long as she remembered, if not longer it seemed.

Susan gave a small shudder at the disgusting thought, before her thoughts turned wistfully elsewhere. Others were much worse off than she, good and decent people such as Anna Lair. She had been head of the accounting department for just about six months after her husband was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Tom couldn't do much on the force and his blatant masculine stubbornness of refusing a desk job at the station led to his forced retirement. That which in turn had then forced the long-suffering Anna, who by this time people were coming to admire for her saint-like patience putting with her selfish, childish spouse to go out and find a job herself. If only to get out of the house and get some peace for herself. The man just couldn't realize and be grateful that he wasn't dead and buried, he instead sat at home and skulked about his glory days rather than doing anything useful as he should have done. Instead casually tossed the full financial burden of their struggling household onto his wife's shoulders.

Because, in reality, with both the debt from Tom's hospital bills piling up and the false charges against Anna that let the company fire her. Now the company lawyers wouldn't even help her as they were in the true "responsible parties" pocketbooks and had hands in the proverbial cookie jar all around.

Susan was clean though, squeakily so. Her motto was _**"Keep your guard up, your head down and always, always cover your backside." **_And she had worked that backside, her own and kissed enough of others, off and on, for years to keep it that way. While she wanted to help her friend, she had her own family to think of as well. And though Susan had nothing to do with those people and though she tried turning them in anonymously.

Even going so far as sending messages to the owner's assistant with proof of what was going on in desperate hopes of finally getting it taken care of. She didn't have much luck there though, as the strange girl utterly loathed Susan for some reason. The icy-cold look of contempt Laura seemed to give only to her bothered Susan, frightening her in some strange way. It just wasn't _human_, rather almost _animalistic_, looking down her nose at you didn't begin to describe it. It was more akin to a predator leering down at its prey just before the latter's flesh was ripped off the bone, in the most painful way possible. She didn't know what that girl had against her, but it was there and Susan didn't quite understand it. She personally had nothing against the young woman, far from it. In fact, Susan Vandom admired the young woman for what she accomplished.

Laura did seem kind of young to have such a high position, company rumor control whispered behind closed department doors, beside the water cooler, even at the Starbucks on the corner at lunch hour. The only reason the girl had the position was she was either the daughter of the new owner or sharing the owner's bed. Of course beside the little fact, that no one knew for sure if the new owner was male or female that theory didn't hold much credence.

Still, the girl's look wasn't exactly what someone would expect or usually be allowed for that matter, of high ranking personnel in such a large multinational corporation. First look at her the best you could say was she resembled a stylish gothic teeny-bopper, wherever she shopped it definitely wasn't Hot Topic.

Because she looked barely into her twenties and had very light skin that almost seemed to have a dusty rose tint to it. Of course that could have been a trick of the light reflected from as much pink as the girl wore. Her hair was black with pink streaks tied back into twin ponytails. She wore a pink blazer with black sleeves over a black blouse. She wore a pink pencil skirt with slits that went midway between thigh and knees. She wore black stockings and gothic looking boots that went almost to her knees with stiletto heels. The buttons on her blazer were little skulls and her earrings looked like safety pins. She wore a pink heart just below her left eye, but no one knew if it was makeup or a tattoo.

Some of Susan's co-workers called the young girl a vampire because of the pointed canines Laura had when she smiled. Of course that was stupid seeing how she was out in daylight much of the time, though she didn't seem to like it very much. However strangely, she did usually carry a black and pink pin-striped umbrella somewhere on her person if she needed to go out, rain or shine. In Susan's own opinion, the girl was beautiful if a bit charmingly eccentric. Laura was also incredibly intelligent though she hid it under a bubbly exterior which seemed to throw most people off.

She could plough thru a stack of six months worth of paperwork the size of Mount Everest, fire off commands, pleasantries or creative curses to a small army of other staff and interns like a round of bullets on the phone or otherwise. Or using what could only be rip-off Bruce Lee moves flinging the occasional spurned riff-raff that tried to weasel their way to get into the CEO's office across her desk and into security's waiting hands. Then play full-out hostess to distinguished guests of many nationalities and languages to later have them singing praises all the way out the door, or do one of any number of other useful things sometimes in a single afternoon.

All without breaking a sweat.

Heck, Susan figured that even a freak windstorm couldn't ruffle Laura's feathers. Because knowing her she'd emerge from the whole thing like she'd stepped out of a luxury spa, not so much as an eyelash out of place.

In short, she was the Ultimate Chanel Bag of Personal Assistants.

As she flawlessly prepared for the coming of their mutual boss the new CEO of Simultech-Stark Industries. Seeing what she saw, in all honesty Susan could see why the young woman had her position if others didn't. Her wardrobe aside, they probably didn't care what she wore. Laura definitely had done something to earn it and was excellent at keeping it, if push came to shove hers was one job that would always be safe if the new CEO was a smart one. But that was a question that could only be answered with time.

Any way she looked at it though, the young woman was an enigma that for some reason reminded Susan of Will. It had been years since she had seen her daughter and even though the pain had gone down to a dull ache, the scar still throbbed in her heart every day. When her daughter had needed her most Susan had turned her away, made her run away thinking no one cared. She had spent a large amount of her earnings, even when her salary was cut several times, trying to find any trace of Will. The last Susan had heard of Will was in Lowerton where several people had mentioned they had seen her living on the streets. It was all her fault, well she was just as much at fault as that bastard who in the end completely got off scot free.

Sighing she got up from the chair and turned almost screaming in sheer fright. _'Speak of the Devil and lo he shall appear!'_ She thought, mentally willing her heart to slow its erratic rabbit thumping.

There standing before her was the gothic looking girl she had just been thinking about. She hadn't even heard the girl come in, but none the less she was there nearly boring ocular holes into the older woman.

"Our mutual boss will be coming very soon, and they wanted me to come to you personally. If I had my way you wouldn't even be here still, however they trust you in this matter." Laura said crossing her arms and giving a pointed glare at Susan.

"Who is this boss? What do they want?" Susan asked, a little unsettled by the sudden appearance and the positively demonic way the girl was eying at her.

Laura snorted, indifferently. A strange sound coming from her cute, button nose. "If _they_ _want_ to tell you _they will_ when they come, all you're getting out of me is your assignment." She shook her head clearly exasperated. "For some odd reason, after everything, they still trust you to be honest. Your assignment is to gather reports on EVERYONE in the company here that you trust and who you don't trust. They want to know who is behind as well as taking part in stealing from this company."

Sighing in a resigned fashion, Susan knew she wasn't going to get any straight answers from this girl. She did know that however much the girl disliked her, Laura was fiercely devoted and loyal as a pitbull to whoever the owner was, and if she was here saying she was doing something for the owner, then Susan believed her. Reaching for her purse, Susan pulled out a USB flash drive and handed it to Laura. She loved this company and in memory of her former boss and the man she considered her friend still, Anthony Stark. Susan would do everything she could to protect both its future and her job. She also had an ulterior motive though, she needed it to continue paying those who were still searching for her daughter.

"I already have everything on here, if you really intend to do something about them you can have it." Susan said as Laura snatched the small device from her hand.

"Oh, we plan to do something alright." Laura sneered as she turned and stalked off out of the office leaving an owlishly blinking, utterly confused woman behind.

* * *

><p>The day of truth had finally arrived, much sooner than Will would have liked. Laura would be laughing at her if this whole situation wasn't bothering Will so much. She was wearing a collar around her neck that would o the same thing as her hardsuit did by changing her voice. The cloak she wore with the hood would hide her features when she talked to her mother, but she fully intended to talk to Anna as herself when she came after she agreed to sign the nondisclosure contract. Now she was safely in her office, having sneaked in with her cloak next to Laura much to the confused looks several people gave her as they passed. The security seemed like they were going to confront her, but a steely look from Laura scared them off.<p>

Now she was sitting in her office, thinking over everything she had learned both from what her mother had freely given and what Will managed to steal. A part of Will was thankful that her mother truly had nothing to do with neither the decline of the company or the chips used to create the enemies foot soldiers. Of course none of it comforted her any as nothing pointed to any regret of what Susan did to her daughter. The only thing on the computer was work related, no diary or journal as Will secretly hoped to find. It left her with nothing, no peace what so ever as she realized her mother truly didn't care as she had a new family and didn't want anything to do with her old.

Now though she needed to prepare for her first meeting of the day before she had to get enough security to escort the board off the premises after she has Laura drop the news on them at the board meeting later that morning.

* * *

><p>It was actually a beautiful morning out, but to Anna it seemed dull and lifeless as she forced herself out of her beat up old car. She wistfully remembered the days when she used to have a newer one, but was forced to sell it just to pay an ungrateful husband's mounting bills. Then had had to break down and bought this one for a hundred dollars in an attempt to be able to continue to get employment. It hardly ran and was falling apart. The only reason the police didn't bother her is because they knew who she was and the situation her family was in. Her daughter was also on the force, and even though she tried Irma had her own bills and life to worry about. Anna refused to take much money from the younger woman.<p>

Walking up to the security check Anna asked herself why she even bothered coming as SS Industries had already more or less ruined her life. Since she had the reputation of being fired for suspected money laundering and embezzling no one would hire her. She took odd jobs just to make enough to barely pay the bills, including her husband's still astronomical medical costs.

"Good to see you again, Mrs. Lair." Jeff said as Anna arrived at the security check point. He was one of the people she liked at the company when she worked here, one of the ones who to that day still believed in her innocence. "The new boss is here today, earlier than expected."

"The new boss?" Anna asked, a little surprised. She knew there was a new boss though no one knew much about them. Anna wasn't too impressed with them though, anyone who let innocent people like her have their lives ruined were just as bad as the ones who were directly responsible.

"Yeah, no one knows how or when they got in, but they have the entire top floor sealed off with only the head of security allowed there. According to the papers only a Mrs. Hale and yourself are supposed to be escorted up there as soon as you arrived." Jeff explained as he looked over his papers before pulling out a visitors pass and handing it to Anna. "I guess I'll take you up to my supervisor then he'll show you where to go."

"Thank you." Anna sighed as she followed the man through the huge building. She shouldn't have been surprised when the head of security met them and led her up to a hallway where Elizabeth Hale was shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting impatiently.

"Hey Lizzie, are you going to tell me why you made me come here?" Anna asked giving her friend a bright smile, though it was obvious it was mostly forced. Anna had been through so much lately it was just too hard to genuinely smile anymore.

"Don't call me that." Elizabeth sighed, but she knew how hard it had been for Anna lately. Of course the woman tried to help Anna, but Anna hadn't wanted to take it. She wanted to work something out herself, but she was realizing that it wasn't going to happen. Anna had planned on calling Elizabeth later today, but the amount Anna owed was probably way too much for the lawyer to help with. "Anyways, we have a meeting with the new CEO?"

Before either of them could say anything else, the large doors they were standing before opened and a familiar girl was standing there stoically holding out a manila folder to each woman. It took a moment for Anna to realize the pink-and-black goth woman was Laura, a girl Anna only ever really met once.

"Good morning Ladies, Thank you for coming on such short notice." Laura said, a slight smile upon her black painted lips though she was acting very professional. "Please come in, but stay in front of the desk."

Anna and Elizabeth looked at the girl then each other for a few moments, questions racing through both women's minds. They quickly followed behind the young woman who walked to stand behind the desk next to a large, high backed office chair that was turned around so all they could see was the leather back. Of course Elizabeth was sure she knew who was in it, but the scene was something out of a bad movie making the woman shake her head in slight amusement.

"Good morning Ladies, please Mrs. Lair, if you haven't already looked at the contents of your folders, please do so now." A cool, feminine voice said from the other side of the chair. It felt kind of weird talking to someone like this, it was as if this was a scene from some bizarre movie. They wouldn't have been surprised if cameras popped out from behind the chair and claimed they were from some new reality show, where they would see how long it would take you to crack under the pressure in front of your boss.

"Are you really the new owner? What's your name?" Anna asked, a little confused at what was going on.

"Yes I am, and I will tell you my name after you look through the contents of your folder and sign the contracts if you agree. If you don't agree, you are free to leave and security will escort you out. If you agree and sign the contracts, I will explain everything and answer your questions." The voice said, it also seemed very familiar to Anna for some reason.

Opening up the folder Anna flipped through the pages of the contract reading through it. It forbid her from talking about the owner and who they were with anyone including family members, which struck her as being odd. Apparently the new owner wanted her to review the books and investigate the financial situation of the company and where everything was really going.

Flipping farther into the folder almost made Anna drop it when she came across the mortgage for her home, and whose name it was now officially in. A small smile crossed her lips as she attached a face to the mysterious voice behind the chair. It was older for sure, but it was obviously hers. Looking at the sheet behind it made her eyes go wide, there was a check that was, according to the small note attached, hers if she accepted or not in payment for the time lost since she was framed.

""I'll accept, but have you let your mother know that you're back?" Anna asked moving slowly toward the desk, eyeing Laura's reaction. She seemed tense, as if she would attack if Anna made any move to harm the person in the chair.

"I don't know what you are talking about." The voice said, though there was a slight hitch in it. Anna could see a mop of red on the girl...no the young woman's head who had her head bowed and eyes closed. Anna was right, she inched closer and kneeled down to pull the redhead into a hug surprising her.

"We missed you Will, all of us." Anna whispered, rubbing the redhead's back as she apparently gave in and hugged the Anna back with tears flowing freely.

"I missed you to." Will whispered.

"What happened to you, sweetie? Where have you been?" Anna asked softly.

"It's a long story, but I still don't want you telling anyone else that I'm here until I'm ready. And Mrs. Lair, make no mistake I _will_ tell my mother…_in my own time_. Right now however, I have much bigger things to finish sorting out than family estrangements." Will sighed making both Anna and Elizabeth share worried looks.

* * *

><p>After two hours of going over all of the important documents and arguing with Anna over accepting the money, which she did reluctantly in the end. It was finally time to drop the bomb on the board of directors which was something Laura was looking forward to as she confidently strode down the hall towards the board room with an armful of folders containing checks and paperwork putting everyone on paid suspension pending a full in depth investigation. All of them that is except two which contained notes telling them to sit their and stay quiet.<p>

Looking on each side of her she saw the security guards that was flanking her nod in readyment as she pushed through the doors hard enough to make them bang scaring the occupants of the room.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" An older woman demanded, glaring at Laura in challenge. Laura didn't remember the woman's name, but remembered that she always challenged Laura's right to be there. Smirking a bit the vampire decided this was going to be much more fun that she originally thought.

"Good morning ladies and gentleman, these fine men will be handing you each a packet for each of you." Laura explained as she handed over her load to a couple of the security guards who began passing out the folders to their marked recipients. The enraged looks on their faces was enough to make Laura's day as one even had the nerve to slam his hands on the table.

"You little bitch! You think you have the right to do this?" A man snarled as he marched up to Laura and tried to back hand her. Tried being the key word as she effortlessly stopped his strike before wrapping a slender hand around his throat and lifted him up off the floor. He may have been bigger and stronger looking, but he had nothing on her vampiric strength, even during daytime.

"Now, if you all don't mind, security will escort you to pick up any personal belongings. However, all of your passwords are being changed as we speak and you will NOT attempt to take anything electronic from the building. Do so and you will be arrested. Do you understand?" Laura demanded as she glared at the fool in her grip who was clawing at his hands while fear filled everyone else in the room at the casual display of power the girl was showing. At the mans nod, Laura dropped the man to the ground as one of the security guards pulled him to his feet. "You all are hereby put on paid leave until an investigation is completed into possible corruption within the company. And don't think that this will be it because anyone of you fools who are involved in it in even the slightest will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible."

"What about us?" Susan asked, fear plainly written on her face earning a glare from Laura.

"You, Mrs. Collins, Mr. Harrison and yourself are the first to be investigated. Security will escort you to your office Mr. Harrison while Mrs. Collins will accompany me." Laura said coldly while discreetly giving a friendly smile to the kind, elderly man that was Mr. Harrison. Laura already instructed the guard escorting him to explain everything and that he was in no real trouble. That the whole thing here was just for show while warning him that he still needed to keep quiet about everything.

"What's going on?" Susan asked as she followed the Laura briskly through the halls.

"You, Mrs. Collins, are going to visit your new boss as well as her lawyer and new accountant." Laura said in such a way that didn't help Susan's nervousness in the least.

* * *

><p>Will was checking herself out in the reflection of her office's window while idly smiling at the strange look. Her cloak was pulled tightly to her making her look like some evil villain plotting some evil plan. She was beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea to begin with. She was doubting the whole hiding thing, but she was doubting if it was smart actually meeting with her mother even more. Her feelings were so raw after just seeing her mother the other night, but now she was going to be doing more than seeing her. She was going to talk with the woman, and she wasn't sure what to say or do. On one hand she wanted to be professional, but on the other she wanted, no, she needed to confront the woman. To demand to know why her mother hated her so much that she would rather be with her ex-teacher than with her own daughter when Will needed her the most. After all of these years she was still so angry, so hurt over knowing that she meant so little to her mother.<p>

It was too late to go back now though as she heard the knock on the door signifying Laura's return.

"Are you sure you want to do this in this way?" Elizabeth asked softly, worry evident in her voice.

"Your mother loves you, Will. Please don't hide from her." Anna urged, but Will shook her head negatively.

"I can't right now, for now this is business. Our...reunion...it will have to wait." Will replied before calling out, "Come in."

"I brought Mrs. Collins as you asked, Mrs. Stark." Laura said nodding toward Susan.

"Hello Mrs. Vandom," Will said, silently cursing herself at the slip as she still saw her mother as a Vandom. Susan gave Will a hooded glare full of accusation as she glanced at her two friends sitting by the desk. "My name is Mrs. Stark, and this is my lawyer Mrs. Hale and my accountant Mrs. Lair. I believe you three actually know each other."

"Why don't you show your face?" Susan asked as she moved closer to Will making Laura tense, but Will waved her off.

"I have my reasons, and you WILL respect them." Will said, smirking to herself over the wordplay.

"It was you, wasn't it? You broke into my house, didn't you?" Susan demanded angrily. "I don't care how much money you have, it doesn't give you the right to invade your employee's personal lives. To break into their homes."

"Oh, the self righteous drabble of a woman who hated he daughter so much she abandoned her just so she could go spread her legs for a man. Tell me, Susan, how proud are you of choosing a man over that piece of trash you called a daughter?" Will asked, her voice harsh as she glared at her mother out from under her cloak's hood. Glancing to the side she could see the worry in Laura's eyes and on the other side the same looks mirrored in Anna and Elizabeth's faces.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that, you bitch!" Susan growled out angrily as she clenched her fists tightly.

"What's wrong, can't admit that you care more about yourself than your own daughter? Or you can't accept the fact that to you, your daughter didn't mean shit to you." Will demanded. She could feel the hot sting of tears and the anger and self loathing rising quickly. She didn't care though, she just couldn't stop herself. "You just couldn't wait to be rid of her, to throw her stuff to the curb. To start a family that had nothing to remind you of the fucking little whore!"

"Don't you dare!" Susan sobbed as she hit Will sending her to sprawling to the floor. Sobbing Will dragged herself to her knees while holding out her hand to signaling Laura to stay back. "Don't you dare talk about her like that!"

"I bet you dreamed of that for so long, didn't you mother?" Will cried as she pulled the hood back to glare up at the woman who gave birth to her with betrayal in her eyes. "So tell me mom, how good did it feel?"

"W-W-Will? Oh god, Will. Oh my, god." Susan sobbed as she stepped back, hands over her mouth as she started hyperventilating.

"Oh I bet that felt so good mommy." Will mocked as she yanked off her collar and stood swaying to her feet. "Did it feel good finally getting to hit me, to put me in my place. I bet it did, I bet you waited years to do that."

"Will...I didn't know...I would never..." Susan sobbed looking from her friends to Laura to her daughter. It was clear she was confused and had no idea of what to do. "I love you, Will."

"Laura...I can't do this now. She's...she's not fired but get her out of my office for now." Will cried as she stumbled away from Susan as Laura almost glided between the two faster than anyone could see. The hateful look in Laura's eyes, the look she always gave Susan all of a sudden made since to Susan as she was dragged from the office as she begged the girl to let her go to her daughter. The last thing Susan saw was Anna and Elizabeth comforting a sobbing redhead.

* * *

><p>I figured I should explain a few things here. The first thing I should say is that the hardsuits are not based off of the Ironman armor. More about why there wasn't an Ironman will be explained soon and if you want to see what the hardsuit looks like then Google Priss from Bubblegum Crisis. Will's hardsuit is the same except the color scheme is different.<p>

Second thing is that the robes Irma wore is differnt because of reasons that Will will find out soon while learning more about what had been going on while she was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title:** A Guardian's Homecoming

**Date****Posted:**December 14, 2011

**Written****By:** WV-Rebirth

**Beta****Read****By:** My Boyfriend (Blows a kiss)

**Rating:** M

**Disclaimer:** I don't own W.i.t.c.h., Marvel Universe, Kim Possible, Monster High or any other characters that may make a cameo in the story. In fact, many of them will only share names and some similarities and will not be the actually character.

**Summary:** After a tragic event in Will Vandom's life she is more or less forced out on the street where she begins a new life and despite not wanting anything more to do with the people of her past she still becomes a guardian, just not one of Candracar's.

**Warnings:** This story will have lesbian characters in it, plenty of mature themes such as rape and abuse, and plenty of changes to the universes the characters come from. If you can't handle this then be forewarned, if you don't mind and just want what will hopefully be a good story then please enjoy.

Since I've been asked to explain a little more about the chips creating the foot soldiers I decided to add a scene at the beginning explaining them a bit more and give a little more detail on the enemy while Danni also gets a bit more scene time in the story. I changed a lot of this chapter from what I had written down, but I could only work on it little by little over the last month, month and a half as my life is getting more and more hectic the closer the holidays get. I'm trying my best to make a little extra money baby sitting just to afford some Christmas presents for my family and boyfriend. Some of which I had to use for other things so far. On top of that I have been having to maintain decent grades to be allowed to do baby sitting. I've also been having some problems in real life, many of which I really don't want to get into on here. Suffice to say, my life has been crazy but it is thankfully slowing down a bit so I can get back to typing up this story and I have been working on a special project which I'm hoping to have some done by Christmas as I want to post it Christmas eve. Sadly I won't get as much done as I wanted to be able to get to the point in the story that would be putting them at Christmas unless I make some big changes, but that wouldn't work out too well with what I had worked up so far. I haven't disappeared, I am really sorry about he length of time since I last posted, but as I said I've been really really REALLY busy and I even have a tone of emails in my inbox I really need to get through if I can just get a few minutes without distractions to do it. I really hope that you enjoy this chapter and hopefully I'll have another posted in a few days if all goes according to plans.

LINE CHANGE

"You bitch!" Danni roared as she hit Christa hard, knocking the red haired valkyrie as hard as she could sending the girl sprawling to the ground. Danni couldn't believe anyone would be as callous as to openly laugh about what that little group of valkyries did after coming back from a mission to one of the other realms. Of course they were successful in securing the seals on that world by destroying all of their enemies in one large attack. The problem was there was an entire village there that Christa's group had sacrificed as they believed it was the quickest and easiest way. Thousands of people dead, it didn't matter that they were lycan in nature, they were innocently trying to live their lives out peacefully.

"You will pay for that!" Christa spat as she held her now broken nose while glaring at the blonde, blood flowing from the injury. The girl pissed Danni off to no end as she believed the blonde to be worthless since none of the pegasus had bonded with Danni

"You can try you sick..." Danni got out as a retort before Sif and Thor along with Isya interrupted them.

"You will stop this immediately!" Thor's voice boomed out over the hall where a small group was starting to gather to watch the growing tensions. The loud booming voice startled the gathering group enough to make them scatter not wanting to get on the bad side of the ruler of the gods.

"Danielle, you are to go with Thor. Christa, we have some things to discuss." Sif said, a little anger clearly coating her voice as she glared at the young warrior who in turn glared at the blonde.

"You'll pay for this, bitch." Christa snarled quietly as Danni walked, head hung low towards her fellow blonde.

"Come child, we have much to discuss." Thor grumbled, making Danni realize she was in trouble with the one man here who she trusted besides his brother. He had been the only one who gave her hope in returning to Earth despite the rules. While being a valkyrie cadet she was not allowed to leave Asgard, but when she finally found her partner and bonded she could go on missions, missions that Thor promised would mainly be on Midgard and while she was there it would be up to her on what she did during whatever she was assigned to do. Sadly, a partner was looking less and less likely to happen.

"I'm really sorry, Sir." Danni sighed as she matched the older man's pace as they walked out of the hall and began walking through the town passing people who respectfully bowed to their lord, Odin having retired a year earlier.

"Don't be sorry, dear, if you didn't hit her I most likely would have done something much worse. I don't know why my wife puts up with her." Thor said running his fingers through his long golden locks. "That isn't what I wanted to see you about."

"It isn't?" Danni asked in surprise since she was sure she would be facing discipline for striking a superior out of sparing.

"No, it isn't. I know you know a little about why it is necessary for the valyries duties to be expanded, but I want to make sure you understand before I tell you what I wanted to see you for." Thor said as they came up to one of the private stables for the royal family where Thor leaned against it and watched a few pegasus grazing. Danni leaned up against the fence as well, Thor wasn't acting on an official capacity it seemed and he hated her treating him formally when it didn't require it. In fact, she almost saw him as a father...the type of father she always dreamed of having. "Danni, I'm not going to lie to you, all of reality as we know it is in danger. All of the known realms are connected by the world tree, each of it's roots connected to the seven seals in each realm imprisoning the ultimate evil. No one remembers it's name, and there are those who don't even believe in it any longer. I can assure you it and the danger it represents are real."

"I know, Isya already explained it to me. It is recruiting generals and giving them power and knowledge to create monsters to find and destroy the seals. On Earth they are using a cross between magic and technology to create zombified vampires." Danni sighed as she looked away as images flashed through her head of her death at the hands of said creatures.

"They aren't zombies, Danielle, they are reanimated bodies. They no longer have any inhibitions or conscious despite retaining some of their personality. These chips that the human generals create are imbued with magic and more magic is used to infuse them into it's victims creating a fake vampire. Unlike real vampires, these things are made by very dark magic so sunlight will destroy them while real vampires only find it very uncomfortable. Also, a real vampire doesn't turn to dust by being staked, but there are several points on the body of these fakes that interrupt the flow of magic and causes a feedback which burns out the body." Thor explained. "The longer the fakes stay active the greater the risk of burning out also becomes as a body can only contain this dark magic for so long. I've been told of these things exploding into dust by themselves from staying active for too long."

"Why don't we just go take out all of these generals?" Danni asked, the question was something she had asked several times before though no one ever really had an answer and for a few moments while silence reigned she didn't think she was going to get one this time.

"Danielle, we don't know who the generals are. There is so much dark magic that it hides their identities from us and the three most important realms are Asgard, Midgard and Nifelheim. The others are just important in reality, but they are so small compared to the three main realms. If the seals were destroyed on the three key realms, the great evil might be able to break free ad shatter the smaller ones on its own." Thor admitted, "Danielle, I knew your grandfather once...he was a great man and I see a lot of him in you."

"You knew my grandfather?" Danni asked in shock as she pushed away from the fence to stare at the blonde, muscular god in shock.

"Years ago Midgard was overran with people who had special abilities, Danielle. Many of them good people such as your grandfather, but all of that changed one day when a very powerful young woman who was tired of the prejudice against them used her powers to change the world. At first she made it where they were the rulers, but there were those who remembered the way things were and fought back. In the end she thought it would be better if these people never existed so she used her powers one last time before dying. She made it as if no one had ever had any powers so the team of heroes your grandfather was on never formed. Your grandfather never made the once famous Iron Man armor and I he never met me though I remember everything. My father forbade me from returning to Midgard because we were once again forgotten and he believed it best to allow mutants and gods disappear from Midgard forever."

"Then why bring me here?" Danni asked, shaken a bit by this revelation. If this woman didn't change the world then would she have had a better life? If she did though would she have even met Will then?

"Because times are once again changing, creatures of the night are once again emerging as well as some people with powers and mages. The time is coming when Midgard needs a champion, a God to stand for what is right...Or a Goddess." Thor said giving Danni a soft smile as he too pushed away from the fence. "We aren't Gods as you may know them, Danielle. We are mortal beings just like humans, but we have great powers and live for a very, very long time. We do hold offices of power that can be passed from person to person, usually generation to generation. The symbol of my office is my hammer and lightning while others have different forms. Take that pegasus over there, she's not a valkyrie's partner."

Danni looked out across the field where Thor indicated to see instead of a white horse, a deep violet one, almost black. It's mane and tail seemed to almost be formed out of gas and looked to have stars floating in it as if it was a portal into the night sky. It's eyes were also deep black and seemed to have the same quality of the ever changing mane and tail. Like the other pegasus, it had wings folded at it's side however it also had a long, spiraled horn which most of the valkyrie's partners did not have. "Beautiful."

"She is very beautiful, Danielle. Her name is Nightmare Moon and I was wondering if you would like to go meet her?" Thor said a small smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah." Danni sighed as she stared at the beautiful creature as the two walked across the field and stopped just a few feet from her.

"Hello child." A kind yet amused voice echoed through Danni's mind. "I've been waiting for you."

"Y-You talked to me?" Danni gasped staring into the eyes of Nightmare Moon.

"Yes child, I want someone worthy of my Mistress's place. Someone with a strong yet pure heart to take up Hecate's mantle." Nightmare said, a feeling of peace and amusement flitting through Danni.

"Who's Hecate?" Danni gasped as she looked between horse and god.

"Hecate was the Goddess of the night, but she passed away a few years ago and we have not found a suitable replacement for her yet. Since you couldn't find a partner, I thought maybe you weren't meant to be a valkyrie. Or at least, not fully." Thor explained, his smile growing. "Since she talked to you, I guess she offered you Hecate's place? If you accept Danni, you will be a God. The Goddess of the night and a secondary goddess of magic. Danni, Asgard and Nifleheim is covered, but we can't afford to send a God to Midgard and the valkyrie is being spread thin through the lesser realms. If you accept, I'd like to assign you to protect Midgard after you learned some control of your power. The question is, do you want to accept the responsibility of a Goddess and have to return to Midgard...to Earth to protect all of it's people?"

Danni looked back at the dark horse and couldn't help but smile at the encouragement Nightmare Moon was sending through her. An even bigger smile formed as she processed Thor's words.

LINE BREAK

Laura was worried sick when she finally managed to drag Susan down the hallway, and despite not liking the woman at all, Laura managed to calm her down some and convince her it was best to give Will some space. Of course space was something Laura didn't intend to give the girl, she remembered how depressed Will was after what happened to Danni and this was bordering on being just as bad if not worse. She never heard as much self loathing as Will showed in just a few moments from the redhead before. Self pity, uncertainty, depression, anger, but never self loathing to this degree. What the hell happened to make Will act like this? She seemed to be over her past, so what set her off like this?

The young vampire found her way back into the office where she found Anna holding the redhead on the leather couch and rocking her a bit. Seeing the site made Laura smile a bit, it showed that Will had friends who cared for her here and two new employees that had the redhead's best interest at heart. Maybe between the three of them they could possibly pull the redhead out of whatever abyss she had found herself in. At least she hoped they could, screw the mission, she would drag Will out of there if that was what her friend needed.

"Will, sweetie, look at me." Laura said softly as she kneeled down on the floor before the couch and took Will's hands in her own. "Please tell me what happened? I've never seen you...this bad before. Do you want to go home and let Mrs. Lair, Hale and myself to take care of things here?"

"N-No." Will sniffed, looking into Laura's eyes. The deep pain that the redhead clearly shone in her watery orbs and it worried Laura even more as the vampire rubbed the back of Will's hands with her thumbs. "This is my mess anyways. I should have taken control sooner then things wouldn't have gotten so bad here."

"Will, honey, why did you say those things to your mom? Why did you say those things about yourself?" Anna asked gently, curiosity in her voice as well as a hint of sympathy and caring. There was no judgment in the woman's eyes nor her voice.

"Because, that's all I am." Will sniffed as she pulled her hands away from Danni so she could pull her knees to her chest. "Being here...seeing her...it brought everything back. All the pain I felt every time she chose him over me, every time she rejected me to be with him. I can't make it stop either and it's tearing me up."

"Sweetie, I thought you worked through this." Laura said softly, reaching up to rub Will's knee while looking up to catch Will's eyes once again.

"She...I always thought that deep down she wanted me, that we were both as much at fault for the tension back then." Will whispered, but all three women left in the room besides Will heard her. "She got rid of everything that could have reminded her of me, and even replaced me."

"Oh sweetie, that isn't true." Anna sighed.

"That's bullshit, Will." Elizabeth said, her voice a bit harder. Her expression was stern, but caring as she leaned over the arm of the catch next to Anna. "Mr. Stark sold her a house for cheap years ago and Susan refused to move into it in case you came home. After fighting with Dean over it so much they compromised when your brother was almost due and moved your bedroom and most of the rest of the apartment to the house so when you was found it would be ready to move into. The only reason they changed your old room was your brother needed a room until you was found."

"Sweetie, your mother misses you so much. All she ever talks about when we're with her is you and begging us to tell her some kind of good news." Anna sighed softly. "Will, honey, your mom knows she messed up. We all do, there is no guide to raising children and sometimes things happen, words are said and feeling are hurt. It doesn't mean that she doesn't love you and if you are hurting this much, you must still love her."

"She betrayed me." Will sobbed as she pushed up and away from the three and stormed over to the large bay window to stare out over the city as her fist clenched and unclenched. She was feeling so angry, hurt and lost right now and everyone seemed to be suggesting that she do the one thing she didn't want to do right now. They were suggesting that she talk to Susan about what happened. "She...she made her choice when she chose my teacher over me. When she refused to help me the night..." Will punched the window hard, wincing as her knuckles felt like they cracked from the impact. Laura was right, she worked through this years ago so why was it all coming back to haunt her with a vengeance? It wasn't fair!

"Will...I'm the last person who would defend that woman, but maybe you do need to talk to her. If only to bring some closure to everything." Laura sighed as she joined Will at the window, rubbing her shoulder as Will clenched her eyes shut tightly.

"Please...let's just drop this." Will said, her voice growing a little harder as she rubbed her eyes. "We have a lot of work to do, and it would be best if we get a start on it."

LINE BREAK

It was a long, tiring day. Both emotionally and physically, but when the work day was coming to an end Will finally found herself able to relax a bit. They looked through so many files trying to determine what exactly they should do while both Laura and herself tried their best to find any clues as to who was behind the chips being made there. There were no records indicating who ordered them, who took the order or set them up to be made, or who in the company was involved beyond the manufacturing section themselves. They could always go and ask the workers there a little more about it, but that would tip them off that they were there searching for them. For now they both knew it was better to just let it go and keep digging through records.

Of course the day would have went much smoother if it wasn't for the incident with Will's mom and Anna and Elizabeth trying to talk Will into talking with the woman. While she admitted a part of her wanted to, she just couldn't get near Susan without all of the anger, self insecurities, bitterness and resentment that she didn't really knew she had to this extent to surface. She felt so worthless in Susan's company while at the same time being furious with both the older woman and herself. All she wanted was to leave Heatherfield and not look back, to leave the past where it was and go on with her new life and new friends. So why couldn't she?

"I was planning on asking you ladies out for some dinner, but I really need to head back to the hotel and get some rest." Will sighed, the weariness weighing her down as she rubbed her eyes.

"It's fine Will, I hope you feel better." Anna said, her tone giving away just how much she was worried about the redhead.

"I will, I just need some rest Anna." Will said grabbing her bag and pulling out two hundred dollar bills. "Here, take your families out for some nice meal tonight. But don't tell them about me, please."

"I can't..." Anna started as she tried to avoid taking the money while Elizabeth took the bill handed to her.

"Anna, take the money and go eat. You deserve it." Elizabeth said, her voice a little stern.

"Fine, thank you Will." Anna said, a small smile spreading across her lips as she took the offered money. She was happy that her family was now pretty much out of debt thanks to the money given to her, but she still had a ways to go to mend her breaking family. Irma, despite being her stepdaughter had grown to love her and supported her as Chris does, but Tom just wasn't the same anymore and it was putting a strain on them all.

"I'll see you two in the morning." Will said before the two left, a few minutes later Will and Laura following. Will couldn't get the feeling of being watched as she got into the car out of her mind, but in the end chalked it up to her mom probably watching out a window or just being paranoid.

LINE BREAK

"I still don't think it's a good idea to be running around like this tonight." Came the voice of Laura over the helmet's internal communication's system. Will needed to blow off some steam after the day she had and was currently enjoying falling over fifteen feet before he thrusters kicked back on softening her landing on top one of the many tall apartment building scattered across the city. She was searching for any signals on her helmet's visor indicating any freaks prowling the night though so far she had found nothing so far. It was such a shame as she was looking forward to some stress relief from dusting the freaks.

If they were newly born freaks, then there was a small chance that they might not turn fully to dust. From the little that they learned from their studies of the freaks they captured, they were reanimated corpses that was created out of a hybrid chip made of technology fused with magic. The flow of the magic saturated the body over time and would eventually destroy themselves. However in the meantime, if they were old enough, disrupting the flow of energies by piercing the heart, severing the head, or damaging several other parts of the body would cause a backlash of energies incinerating the body and turning it to ash. If it was young enough there seemed to be a small possibility of the backlash not being large enough to destroy everything. These were the ones they got the best samples from to test.

"Relax, what could go wrong?" Will asked grinning a bit. She hat to admit she was already feeling much better just getting out and feeling the rush and excitement of roof hopping with her armor. The day was one of the most stressful and emotionally exhausting she had experienced for years and she had to admit, even if only to herself, she really did just want to say forget the whole thing and get out of Heatherfield. She couldn't though, she had responsibilities that she couldn't just dump because things were getting rough.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." A rough voice said startling Will. Slowly she turned around to come face to face with someone she didn't want to see. Standing just a few feet from her was Napoleon in his regent form glaring at Will a few moments before his face softened, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Been a long time, doll."

"Na...Who are you." Will asked, barely catching herself before she finished calling out his name, but the damage was already done.

"You know who I am, doll face, don't try to deny it. I can smell you, but if that's how you want to play it I won't tell the others." Napoleon said, "Only thing is, I can't help you against them either."

"Against them?" Will asked, swallowing a limp in her throat as Napoleon motioned behind her. Slowly turning Will caught site of Irma like the other night, only this time she had Hay Lin and another girl who looked a little like Cornelia did when they were teenagers hovering a few feet off the roof.

"I think this time your a little outnumbered bitch." Irma said with a sneer while cracking her knuckles. With a silent curse Will primed one of her knuckle bombs hoping to make a distraction but a strong gale of wind actually blasted her back into the wall of the roof access door into the building. Will tried to move away but the brick of the wall shifted into hands clamping around her wrists and ankles while several tendrils wrapped around her waist holding her to the wall pinning her in place. It was taking all she had to keep from losing control. All she could see was Matt holding her down as the bonds tightened a little more.

"Girls, I think you should just let her go." Napoleon said, sadness filling his voice as he could hear Will's whimpers thanks to his enhanced hearing though he doubted the others could.

"Let me go you bastard." Will's strained voice came from her helmet, "Please."

"No way in hell." Irma said ignoring the looks on the other girls faces as the water guardian stormed forward and yanked the helmet off the girl only to drop it to the ground in shock as hazel eyes stared back, a vacant look growing in them as tears were slowly beginning to fall. "Wi-Will?" Irma gasped stepping back in shock as her anger at the bitch who dared break into Susan's drained away as she learned who it was.

"Will?" Hay Lin and the blonde gasped in shock at the same time.

"Lillian, I think you should let her go." Napoleon said softly as the blonde numbly nodded her head, the stone bonds holding Will dissolving back into the wall leaving the redhead free to hug herself tightly and slide down the wall to sit on the ground rocking back and forth trying to calm herself down.

"Will, is it really you?" Hay Lin asked hopefully as she let her transformation drop to sit next to the redhead.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" Will asked, her voice strained and slightly harsh as she tried to avoid looking at one of her ex-friends.

"Because we love you, silly." Hay Lin said hugging Will the best she could with the redhead wearing the armor, She struggled for a few seconds before finally giving in to the Asian girl's embrace and let herself cry into the smaller girl's shoulder.

"I didn't know it was you. Why didn't you just tell me?" Irma asked softly as she to dropped her transformation to sit on the other side of Will stroking the redhead's hair, her own tears joining the others.

"Why should I, it isn't like you give damn about me." Will said as she pulled away from them while jolting to her feet while scooping up her helmet.

"We do care for you, Will." Lillian said softly, reappearing right in front of the redhead and hugging the older girl. "I missed you so much."

"I..." Will sighed, too tired to fight it as she gave in and admitted that she missed the troublesome little blonde as the girl didn't do anything to her. In fact, she even missed the other girls including Cornelia who made her life as keeper of the heart very difficult at times. Giving in, the redhead wrapped her arms around the younger girl returning the hug. "I missed you guys also."


End file.
